Directed By: Phil Lord & Christopher Miller (21 Jump Street, The LEGO Movie) Starring: Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum, Ice Cube, Wyatt Russell Rating: R for language throughout, sexual content, drug material, brief nudity and some violence Run Time: 1 hour, 52 minutes Synopsis: After struggling to find success after their first undercover gig, police officers Jenko (Tatum) and Schmidt (Hill) are ordered back to the Jump Street division run by Captain Dickson (Ice Cube) to do the same kind of undercover mission they did so well the first time...but this time they're sent to college. Yup, just like the end of the first film said they would! REVIEW Sarah: Hello readers! We were back at the movies after a quick
little weekend getaway to visit the family, and the other night we checked out this past
weekend's big comedy blockbuster release, 22 Jump Street. 22 Jump Street is the much anticipated (by us at least) sequel to 2012's hit 21 Jump Street, the film reboot to
the old popular television show starring Johnny Depp. Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill once again star as undercover police officers Jenko and Schmidt, and Phil Lord and Christopher Miller returned to direct this, too. Andrew, this movie was packed with hilarious moments and even a little heart! What did
you think of 22 Jump Street?
Andrew: Well first I think we'd
be remiss if we didn't mention that 21 Jump Street was one
of the earliest reviews we ever did for our blog. And back in 2012 we gave 21
Jump Street a 4.5/5 clapboard review. I stand by that grade
because I still think it's a hilarious reboot of the old television series and
was filled with great nods towards not only the TV show, but perfectly made fun
of buddy cop movies, shoot 'em up action flicks, and subverting high school
cliches while embracing all those things, too.
22 Jump Street does just as well by lampooning the idea of movie sequels,
but it embraces it and all the college comedy tropes, too. I loved this new
entry in the series and I want to say that I think they improved on the first
one, even if a large part of this movie's success is that it's almost follows
the first one beat for beat. What did you think, Sarah?
Andrew: Hello dear readers! Sorry that we have yet to get our review of The Lego Movie posted yet, been a little busy moving into our new apartment and getting it all set up. But while we've been a little busy to post that, we wanted to make sure we took the time this week for our annual analysis and predictions for the Academy Awards!
The 86th Academy Awards are this upcoming Sunday, March 2nd, and we're a little behind on our prognosticating. Because of that we're going to shake up the order that we discuss/predict the categories. So we're taking a page straight from the Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences and kicking things off with the Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress categories!
Not unlike last year, one of these categories seems like more of a sure thing than the other. Let's get to it.
Best Supporting Actor
The nominees for Best Supporting Actor are:
- Barkhad Abdi, Captain Phillips
- Bradley Cooper, American Hustle
- Michael Fassbender, 12 Years a Slave
- Jonah Hill, The Wolf of Wall Street
- Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club
Okay Sarah, on its face this seems like it should be a very competitive category, but it doesn't seem like it's actually going to be does it?
Directed By: Seth Rogen & Evan Goldberg (writers of Superbad)
Starring: Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel, James Franco, Craig Robinson, Jonah Hill & Danny McBride
Rating: R for crude and sexual content throughout, brief graphic nudity, pervasive language, drug use and some violence
Run Time: 1 hour, 47 minutes
Synopsis: Jay Baruchel (himself) visits his BFF Seth Rogen (himself) in L.A. for the weekend. Although Jay doesn't quite get along with Seth's newer Hollywood friends, he joins him to a party at James Franco's house, when suddenly the world starts to go to Hell and leaves Jay, Seth, James Franco, Jonah Hill, Danny McBride and Craig Robinson alive to fend for themselves while the Apocalypse is going on outside.
REVIEW
Andrew:
Hello readers! A couple of weeks ago Sarah and I were able to catch an advanced
screening of This Is The End, the apocalyptic comedy starring Seth Rogan,
James Franco, Jay Baruchel, Jonah Hill, Danny McBride and Craig Robinson…
Sarah:
Plus a whole host of their friends and other famous people in various cameos.
A: It’s
written and directed by Rogen and his regular writing co-hort, Evan Goldberg.
Together they have also written Superbad and The Pineapple Express,
but this is their first time directing a film. This Is The End is based
on the short-film Jay and Seth Versus the Apocalypse that this duo co-wrote and
that Rogen and Baruchel starred in, with the simple premise being that all the
main actors involved are playing exaggerated versions of themselves who all get
together at James Franco’s house for a party when the apocalypse starts to go
down.
S: They’re
definitely playing exaggerated, fictionalized versions of themselves, which I
enjoyed. Yes, for the most part it’s just a bunch of guys messing around, but
they’re still legitimately trying to tell a story, with the actors actually playing characters – they just happen to
be parodies of themselves, essentially.
Starring: Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Jonah Hill, Richard Ayoade
Rating: R for some strong sexual content including references, pervasive language and violent images
Run Time: 1 hour, 41 minutes
Synopsis: After the security guard of his store is brutally murdered one night, Evan (Stiller) decides to put together a neighborhood watch to catch the killer. He manages to get three guys to join him - Bob (Vaughn), who doesn't know how to deal with his teenage daughter; Franklin (Hill), a police academy reject with violent tendencies; and Jamarcus (Ayoade), a new neighbor who wants to make some friends. When the four of them discover an apparent alien invasion in town, they struggle to figure out how to stop it and to fix what's all wrong in their lives.
REVIEW
Andrew: Hello readers! We
know it’s been about a week since our last review and for that we apologize.
But the other night we caught a matinee of this past weekend’s new R-rated
comedy The Watch, starring Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Jonah Hill and
Richard Ayoade. Directed by Akiva Schaffer – one third of The Lonely Island –
and written by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg (who teamed together to write Superbad),
this was one of only two new releases this week. In our preview I said I was
pretty excited because of the pedigree behind it, but you were less than
enthused to see it. Turns out you were right to be, eh?
Sarah: Yeah! I had very
little enthusiasm for this movie. Great pedigree and I usually love the actors
in it, but I just wasn’t excited about the storyline and it turns out I was
right not to be. Because this movie was one of the dumbest movies we’ve seen
this year, in my opinion.
A: I wouldn’t say it was one
of the dumbest, but it was certainly disappointing and very uneven in the
comedy department.
S: It was like they
were trying to fit in science fiction with a your typical Ben Stiller or Vince
Vaughn comedy and then shoehorn some family conflicts going on…I
just didn’t get it. I didn’t understand why it was the way that it was, and I
thought it was just generally bad. I was bored!
Andrew: Hello readers! We're back with our preview of this week's new releases. Last week we only saw the wide release of one film, the juggernaut that is The Dark Knight Rises, but this week we see two films. One is an original R-rated comedy starring some big names, The Watch, and one is a sequel to a series that I have no idea how or why they're still making more of these, and that's Step Up: Revolution.
Sarah, you pick which one we'll talk about first.
Sarah: Let's go ahead and get the new Step Up Revolution out of the way. The only good one of these films was the first one. It actually did a lot to help Channing Tatum's career and he has turned into quite the movie star. But now, all these movies are are glorified dance videos. And granted, they have some pretty sweet dance scenes but the storylines are usually lacking pretty heavily.
They are niche movies that appeal to a very small audience, but an audience nonetheless so they continue to make them. These movies fall under my "Land Before Time Movies" – as in movies that have sequel after sequel made and I have no idea why.
Official Trailer for Step Up Revolution
A: I haven't seen any of them, to be perfectly honest. And it's pretty much because I have no interest in seeing them outside of checking out the dance scenes, and THAT'S only because I watched the Jabbawockeez on MTV's America's Best Dance Crew.
But looking at the box office information for this series on Wikipedia, I can see why the studio keeps making them. While each new one has made less money than the previous one domestically, it's been the opposite internationally and Step Up 3D actually brought in over $159 million total when it only cost $30 million to make. That's some nice profit.
Continuing my amazing research into this film, the star looks to be some actress/dancer named Kathryn McCormick who placed 3rd during a season of So You Think You Can Dance. The biggest name I can find on the cast list is Peter Gallagher, who I know best from The O.C. and a movie I’m not afraid to admit I love, Mr. Deeds. So the film-makers must be doing something right to make such a good profit off of these no-name films.
S: Like I said, they do have an audience. I think it is safe to say that we will probably not be seeing this one in the theatres...or ever for that matter. I think I just have a hard time seeing them based on my movie standards.
So let's move on to The Watch. This Ben Stiller/Vince Vaughn/Jonah Hill movie looks to bring hilarity with a twist of science fiction to the screen this weekend. What do you think about this one?
A: I'm actually quite looking forward to The Watch because of the pedigree it's bringing. As you said, it stars Stiller, Vaughn and Hill who are all funny people in their own rights, but it's also directed by Akiva Schaffer, one of the members of The Lonely Island. He personally directed some of their best videos like "Dick in a Box," "Natalie's Rap," and "I Just Had Sex" to name a few. It's also co-written by Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen, who wrote Superbad together, and Goldberg also co-wrote Goon, a personal favorite of ours we just caught. So yeah, I'm all about the people behind the making of this movie. The fact that it's rated R gives me some high hopes, too, because those are relatively few and far between.
Official Trailer for The Watch
S: True! I am expecting it to be similar to 21 Jump Street in the comedy deparment, which is holding the bar pretty high for it in our opinion. Vaughn hasn't been in anything lately that I really loved so I am excited to see what he can bring to this movie. Stiller will be hilarious in it I'm sure, and I love Skinny Jonah Hill. I can't seem to get enough of him lately and neither can Hollywood apparently! So while this weekend isn't going to be as epic as last week at the theatres, it looks to be one where we will be laughing more.
A: My one hesitation with The Watch is that Stiller and Vaughn seem to be playing roles that they always play. Stiller is playing the straight-guy, the every-man who's nothing special but kind of reacts to all the shenanigans that are happening around him; while Vaughn looks like he's playing a guy who's related to his Beanie character in Old School. That said I find them to be very funny in those roles. I've also heard good things about Richard Ayoade from some co-workers who've seen him in a British comedy show called The IT Crowd.
S: Oh yeah but we have come to love them for playing these characters, it wouldn't be fair to expect them to change for this movie. It should be entertaining and that is all I can ask for!
Also, because I was gone while this happened and didn’t get a chance to speak on it, I think it is important to also note that our thoughts and prayers are with the victims of the Colorado shooting last week. It was such a terrible thing to happen in a place that brings joy to so many people.
A: Amen. Ok readers, be on the lookout for our review of The Watch at some point this weekend as we’ll definitely be seeing that one, and as always thank you for reading!
Directed By: Phil Lord & Chris Taylor (Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs)
Starring: Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum, Ice Cube
Rating:R for crude and sexual content, pervasive language, drug material, teen drinking and some violence
Synopsis: Schmidt (Hill) and Jenko (Tatum) are a pair of underachieving police officers who went to high school together. After screwing up their first arrest, they're reassigned to the revived 21 Jump Street unit and sent as undercovers officers to a local high school to bring down a growing drug ring. Alas, 7 years after graduating high school themselves, things are not as they remember them.
REVIEW
Andrew: Hello readers! It's been almost a week since our last review, and we apologize for that, but I think the wait was worth it because Sarah and I saw 21 Jump Streetthis afternoon. Starring Jonah Hill (Moneyball) and Channing Tatum (The Vow) and based off the old television show that jump-started a young Johnny Depp's career, we've been waiting a long time for this film, haven't we Sarah?
Sarah: Yea we have! From the first time we saw the trailer we were like, "We gotta see that!" And I don't know about you, but I think it was AWESOME!
A: I know we agree a lot more than we disagree, but I can’t agree with you more here. I also can't stress this enough, readers - 21 Jump Street is the funniest movie I've seen in theatres since The Hangover. And honestly, because of the script, the performances and the organic nature of the humor in this film, I might say it's better.
S: I have to agree with you! The chemistry between Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum was perfect. The classic "used-to-be-nerdy" guy and the original jock teaming up against the bad guys but in such a great way! I love how they make no bones about the fact that it is a homage to the original TV show. Now, there are a ton of fun moments in this movie that we will not be giving away in this review. It is so clever that you all really have to go see it for yourselves.
A: There are countless things in this movie that had me laughing out loud, and if we were sitting closer to the aisle I might have been rolling in it, that's how funny this film is.
And you're SPOT ON about Hill and Tatum's chemistry. This movie wouldn't have been nearly as good if it weren't the two of them, but they were SO funny playing off of each other. We've known Hill is funny for a while, and he's great in it, but Tatum absolutely kills it. Playing the dumb jock with a heart of gold, his facial expressions and delivery are impeccable.
I also love that they took an original concept and turned it on its head. In the beginning of the movie Hill's the outcast and Tatum is the popular guy, and when they get assigned to the 21 Jump Street squad and are sent undercover into high school again, their roles flip because of their incompetence. And it's a stroke of genius.
S: It really was a stroke of genius. I will say, I wasn't laughing as much as Andrew was. I did feel that they gave away a lot of the funny parts in the trailer, but they play into the movie really well. The set-ups for the jokes are awesome! Definitely going to get some one-liners out of this movie.
And this is really the first time that we are seeing a skinny Jonah Hill hit the big screen and I gotta say, I don't hate it! I don't look at him and go, "oh he's just funny because he's the lovable chunky kid" anymore. He is just continuing to show that he has some serious movie chops.
A: I do think it might be fair to say this film may be funnier for the male crowd simply because of the kind of humor it uses, but I think it's funny all-around as well. It has funny moments were it's a satire (i.e. jokes about modern day things) and moments were it's a parody (like the over-the-top action sequences and the guys' reactions to said sequences, or music that sounds like a Michael Bay movie at points).
It all works. I could gush on and on about this movie but I think we've said more than enough to boil it down and say: just go see it in theatres. Please.
S:Yes, see this movie. It's really fun and I would have to venture a guess that we will be buying this on DVD when it comes out.
Andrew: Hello readers! We've been a little slow on the site this week (beautiful spring weather has kept us preoccupied) but we DID remember that we needed to do our weekly preview of the new films coming out on Friday. (Better late than never, right?)
This week we start to see some of the bigger movies of 2012 hit theatres, and the film coming out tomorrow we are most excited for is, hands-down, 21 Jump Street, starring Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum.
Sarah, why are YOU excited for 21 Jump Street?
Sarah: Well I have to admit, I've never seen the original TV show. I know, I know. I claim to be this huge Johnny Depp fan, but I haven't seen the show! This movie looks hilarious though. Hill and Tatum seem to have such great chemistry and great humor! By re-vamping the old classic with modern day twists, I think the movie makers will successfully bring some of the old humor back to the screen. This will also be one of the first times we see Hill's new skinny look on the big screen so I will be interested to see how that comes across.
A: You kind of touched on something about the television series that the film is based on that I think needs to be pointed out more: the series starring Johnny Depp actually wasn't really a comedy. I've only seen a few episodes, but I do know that it took it's action and drama a little more seriously.
So that said, I'm looking forward to seeing the film version be a straight-up action-comedy, because I don't think a film that has the same tone as the series would've worked out as well (see: Miami Vice). I agree with you that Hill and Tatum look like they have great chemistry, as you can see in the trailer, and I think that's going to go a long way when we see this film.
Official Trailer for 21 Jump Street
S: Ok, let's move on then. Jeff, Who Lives at Home also comes out this weekend. Now, I love Jason Segel. How I Met Your Mother is one of our favorite television shows ever and this has been a great couple of years so far for Segel in the movie business. What do you think about this one?
A: I'm looking forward to this one as well, primarily because Segel but also because this film has some good actors in it and the trailer looks genuinely funny. Ed Helms (The Office) co-stars as Segel's brother in the film, and even though it looks like he's just playing his Office character, Andy Bernard, I think the two of them could be a good pairing.
Official Trailer for Jeff, Who Lives at Home
I also like that Susan Sarandon plays their mother and Judy Greer plays Helms' wife. It's a good cast on paper, and I'm excited to see how this film plays out.
Another comedy that's coming out this week is Will Ferrell's new film, Casa de mi Padre, which is supposed to be a telenovela satire. I'm looking forward to this one, are you?
S: Ok, I think this one looks absolutely stupid. But, I also must remember how many Will Ferrell movies that we quote and still laugh over so I might have to give it a chance. Why do you want to see this one?
A: Well you just said one of them - we like Will Ferrell movies, particularly Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgandy and Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. Something those movies and Casa de mi Padre have in common besides Ferrell is that they're produced by Adam McKay (who also directed Anchorman and Talladega Nights). So I think the film's pedigree is promising. Oh, and the fact that it's entirely in Spanish - I want to see that.
Official Trailer for Casa de mi Padre
Ok, the last film of note that comes out this weekend is a new Nicolas Cage movie that doesn't look terrible called Seeking Justice. Long story short, it looks like Nic Cage's wife gets assaulted, a mysterious stranger comes to him saying he can help Cage get justice for it and all Cage needs to do is owe him a "favor" in the future, and stuff goes down. Check out the trailer for yourselves, readers.
Sarah, does Seeking Justice do anything for you?
Official Trailer for Seeking Justice
S: I just want to know in what world January Jones marries Nicolas Cage? In what world, Hollywood?! But I digress. It actually doesn't look half bad. It stars another high demand actor over the past couple of years, Guy Pearce. He really is doing some interesting things this year (i.e. Prometheus. See it!) and it is good to see him on many different levels as an actor. Yes, we will get to see Cage do his brooding action hero thing and Jones with that dead-pan look in her eyes that seems to show no soul inside such a beautiful woman, but I think there might be some hidden gems in this movie. But, we will see.
A: Ok! And with that we're conclude our preview of tomorrow's (today's?) new releases with the ranking of which ones we're most likely to see:
1.) 21 Jump Street 2.) Jeff, Who Lives at Home 3.) Casa de mi Padre 4.) Seeking Justice
Thanks for reading ladies and gents, and be on the look out for some new reviews this weekend! We'll probably have one up as soon as tomorrow.
Directed By: Phil Lord & Christopher Miller (21 Jump Street, The LEGO Movie) 
