Better Late Than Never: Our Preview for Memorial Day Weekend (for Friday, May 25th)

Andrew: Hello readers! We're a day late with our weekly preview because we were both pretty swamped with our day jobs yesterday, but we're here today to preview the big releases that came out today!

Sarah, it's Memorial Day weekend and that typically signifies the start of the summer movie season. So it's no surprise that the big release this weekend is the third installment to a very popular franchise in Men in Black III. Will Smith is back as Agent J, Tommy Lee Jones is back as Agent K, and we have the addition of Josh Brolin to the franchise as a younger, 1960's era Agent K. I would give the set-up to the movie, but it's a little complicated because it involves time-travel, so I'd suggest just checking out the trailer below if you don't know what the plot is.

Official Trailer for Men in Black III

Ok Sarah, what are your thoughts on the third go-around with Agents J and K?

Sarah: Well, it has been 10 years since MIB III came out so things have gotten a little better as far as special effects. I hope this one turns out to be better than the last one. I think these movies are a lot of fun but they do tend to get a little cheesy. While it has been a while since Will Smith has done anything and this is pegged to be his "big comeback" I don't think that he will be the one that he will be the star of the show. I really believe that Josh Brolin as a young Agent K is going to be awesome. 

What are your thoughts on this one?

A: I'm a little torn going into this one because by absolutely no means was anyone begging for a third MIB film, and then it had its history of production problems including:

- Not having a finished script because they rushed it into production, either because they wanted to take use of an expiring tax credit in NY, or because all the actors were available, depending on whom you believe

- The script continued to change throughout shooting, going so far as to have Will Smith even take a hack at it

- There was a time there were production just stopped. I'm not even quite sure why, but it happened.

So there are some red flags right there. But I'm excited because from what we've seen in the trailer and commercials it looks like Brolin's take on Agent K is a spot-on impression of Tommy Lee Jones. I'm not crazy about time-travel being involved because a lot of times it leaves huge plot holes (i.e. if Agent K is killed in the past by an alien who traveled back in time to do just that, how is it that in the effected "present" Agent J is the only one who doesn't know he was killed long ago? How does he know he exists AT ALL?)

S: Yes, but that could be said about a lot of time travel movies. There is a reason that this is not an actual thing in real life. It really reminds to be seen how this movie will do in the box office this weekend. 

Now there is another movie that has been out for a couple of weeks but is just now hitting the theaters wide, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. To many people this may seem like just another AARP inspired movie but I think that it looks heartwarming. What are your thoughts on this one?

Official Trailer for The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

A: I think your description as an AARP movie is pretty accurate and makes me laugh, but honestly I would like to see this one if only because of the cast. Judi Dench, Bill Nighy, Tom Wilkinson, Maggie Smith and Dev Patel are all actors I like and I'm curious how they'll come off working off one another and in the setting of India.

S: I think that's what will make it better too. Now they have done movies like this before (Red) and they have been ok. But with this calibar of a cast I really think that it will turn out to be really cute. I'm excited to see this one sometime this weekend.

A: While Redis a little different in that it's an action-comedy, I'm actually looking forward to seeing these actors play it in a romantic-comedy fashion. Should be fun.

Speaking of a film that starts with a limited release, this week brings the latest film by Wes Anderson, Moonrise Kingdom. Anderson has made a name for himself as a director with the films Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums and The Fantastic Mr. Fox among others, and this is his first live-action film since 2007.

Official Trailer for Moonrise Kingdom

Personally I'm not in love with Anderson's films as some others are, but I do think he has a very distinct style and he manages to gather tons of big name actors to come together for his quirky films, and it looks like he's done it again with Moonrise Kingdom. It stars Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, Jason Schwartzman and, yet again, he got Bill Murray. That's a loaded cast.

S: I'm actually pretty excited about this one. While it does seem Very quirky, I like that it appears to be more of a cartoon that just happens to be done with a live cast. The cast appeals to me as well. While it threatens to be a flop by the sheer amount of egos in the cast, I think that could really bring a lot of people to see this movie who otherwise wouldn't.

A: For sure. When it gets to a theatre near us, it will be one we can guarantee you will we be reviewing.

Ok, last but not least is a film I can also make a guarantee for: I'll be seeing this one alone. I'm talking about Chernobyl Diaries. Even though it's directed by a first-time director in Bradley Parker, I'm excited for it because it's produced by Oren Peli, who was the director/producer/cinematographer for the smash indie horror film Paranormal Activity and has also produced the subsequent Paranormal films as well as 2010's Insidious (a phenomenal horror film if you haven't seen it).

Official Trailer for Chernobyl Diaries

Doing a bit of research I'm also hopeful for Parker's directing skills because he's been involved with films like Fight Club as a visual effects artist, and as a 2nd unit director and visual effects supervisor on the great vampire film Let Me In.

S: While you will be seeing this one all by your lonesome, I will have to admit that this movie is in the perfect location for a scary movie. I hate scary movies. We have established this many times. But the whole premise of this one looks awesome. With the director skills connected to this movie I have to expect that it will be pretty good. Can't wait to interview you on this one. 

Okay readers, we apologize again for the delay of this post. It has been one crazy week for both of us at work. We are excited to bring you all the great reviews for your Memorial Day weekend reading enjoyment. 

A: You can totally expect to see reviews for Men In Black III and Chernobyl Diaries this weekend, and maybe even The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. Have a safe and fun weekend everyone!

What Would Two Tickets For... Do?: "Battleship"

Andrew: Hello readers! Personally I'm very excited about today's post because it is the first entry of a new column Sarah and I are going to start writing called "What Would Two Tickets For... Do?" (or WWTTFD?) The basic idea is that every now and then we'll see a movie in theatres, on DVD or on TV and we talk about what we didn't like about it, or what didn't work for us, etc. And sometimes we'll talk about what we would have done differently or what we think the film-makers should have done differently that would have made the movie better (in our opinion, of course).

So this column is essentially going to be taking a look at one movie and what Sarah and I think should have been done differently to make it better. A simple premise, no? It's not meant to be holier-than-thou, of course, just a simple exercise in looking at what could have been done differently in a film to make it a bit better. SPOILER ALERT: DON’T READ THESE COLUMNS IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN THE MOVIE WE TALK ABOUT AND DON’T WANT ANYTHING TO BE SPOILED. We are writing these under the impression that if you’re reading it, dear reader, then you know what we’re talking about because you’ve seen the film, too.

Sarah, for our first WWTTFD? column we are going to talk about a recent blockbuster that's received a very tepid response for many reasons - Universal and Hasbro's Battleship. (Read our 1.5/5 review of it HERE)

Sarah: Ooo this promises to be a fun column! Yes, as many of you know, we were not a huge fan of this movie, me in particular because of the whole "game as a movie" thing, but I have to say the whole idea might be growing on me a bit. Now, I will give the good people at Universal and Hasbro credit for taking a game that really didn't have much to go on in the first place and try to develop a movie around it, but we here at Two Tickets For... think they went about it the wrong way. Why aliens? Why not keep it to the original game of ship vs. ship?

A: That's exactly the first thing I would have changed if I were involved in the making of this movie. I get that their rationale was probably something like this, "Hey, Transformers has made us a boatload of money, let's make this one look exactly like a Transformers movie!" But that's not good rationale. People went to see those films because they were already big fans of the Transformers and wanted to see it on the big screen, and Michael Bay is a master at making big, stupid action tent-poles.

So the first thing to do is get rid of the aliens altogether. I don't see why they couldn't have set the movie in the mid-1900's during a time when the United States might still have need for actual battleships, and make the story about a fictional World War III or something, and make it more of a character story revolving around Taylor Kitsch's Alex Hopper and how he has to mature in a time of war. (They sort of did, but it involved aliens, so.......yeah.)

"What are we doing in a movie about battleships?"

I mean, they already make very heavy-handed allusions to the old tensions between the USA and Japan throughout the film, why not just cut to the core of it and make it about a war between the two again? Just anything other than aliens, and if you’re going to include aliens, give us a reason why they came in the first place.

S: Yeah, and make it so that the audience actually cares what happens to Alex. Make it so that when he loses his brother, the audience is shocked and really feels for the loss of him and his crew. If you’re gonna keep the aliens, turn them into a real-life threat.

This could have been a whole new take on a World War or the Cold War. If you get rid of the aliens, bring in Liam Neeson in a bigger role. He has such a small role in this movie, and it really is a shame. Making him a bigger part of the movie could really bring some of that character developoment back to the film. I would love to see him get a chance to see Alex grow and mature into the perfect man for his daughter.

A: That's a good point on Neeson's Admiral Shane. Director Peter Berg and the screenwriters Erich and Jon Hoeber make a critical mistake in leaving him out of the action for most of the movie. You're absolutely right that they should have had Neeson and Kitsch's characters on the same boat in the middle of the action and had more of a bonding experience. Honestly, they probably could have done completely without Alexander Skarsgard's Stone Hopper and focused more on Neeson. I was far more interested in Alex’s troubles trying to man up and ask Admiral Shane for his daughter’s hand in marriage.

WWTTFD? We'd make it so that Liam Neeson has a MUCH bigger role in Battleship

There's also a small part of me that says they miscast Kitsch in this film, mainly because there's just something about him that does not scream LEADING MAN, but he fit in better here than he did in John Carter. Much like John Carter, if we recasted Alex Hopper, I think it should have gone to someone like Jake Gyllenhaal or Chris Pine. In fact, we’ve seen a better version of Battleship with this exact story of a hot-headed, immature member of the armed forces grow into a leader with Pine in Star Trek. I want to say Rihanna was miscast (because she was) but because we would have set this film in the past, her character would probably have to be male anyways.

S: The last thing that I would say could be different was to put Brooklyn Decker's character in greater peril. Yes, I know it borderlines on the cheesy and predictable, but she's the heroine of the story and should be treated as such.

So, readers, what did you think of our changes? We don't want this to be another movie review on a movie we have already reviewed, but a fun way to look at the movie in a "what if?" fashion. We would love to get your feedback on this new column! Good or bad.

Photo Courtesies: zap2it, We Believe In Aliens

"The Great Gatsby" Trailer

Sarah: Hello readers! Well,  it seems to be the week for new trailers for awesome looking films that will come out later this year to hit the web! This truly is going to be an amazing year for the movies! Tonight, we found out that The Great Gatsby trailer has been released! This seems like it is going to be an amazing adaptation of the classic American story by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Starring Leonardo Dicaprio, Carey Mulligan, Isla Fisher and Toby Maguire this film directed by Baz Luhrmann promises to be a hit! Enjoy!


OFFICIAL TRAILER FOR THE GREAT GATSBY



P.S. It may take a bit to load. Be patient, it's worth the wait!

"Anchorman: The Legend Continues" has a 2nd Teaser Trailer!

Andrew: Hello readers! Just a quick post today because I didn't realize there were two versions of the teaser trailer for the sequel to Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgandy, aptly named Anchorman: The Legend Continues. So we're going to post both of them. I highly suggest watching them both, as Sarah and I both found them to be hilarious and the perfect way to whet our appetite for a film that hasn't even started shooting yet!

OFFICIAL TEASER TRAILER FOR ANCHORMAN 2

OFFICIAL 2ND TEASER TRAILER FOR ANCHORMAN 2 

Exclusive Anchorman 2 Teaser from Will Ferrell

Courtesy of: Funny or Die

The First Trailer for the New 007 Movie "Skyfall" is Here!

Andrew: Hello readers! I'll keep it short and sweet. Very exciting movie news today as the first trailer for the new James Bond movie, Skyfall,  has hit the web and IT. LOOKS. AWESOME. Check it out below! (Note: There is a trailer for a new Bond video game after the movie trailer. That's not so exciting.)

OFFICIAL TEASER TRAILER FOR SKYFALL

Ok Sarah, now that we've both seen the trailer, what is your immediate reaction to it?


Sarah: We're back to the Bond movies that are supposed to grace the silver screen! None of this revenge stuff. None of this pining after women. This is James Bond we're talking about! Killing bad guys and slaying the ladies with his sexy bad-boy demeanor. This teaser trailer seems to bring this back and I am so excited!


A: I 100% concur. Skyfall looks SO much better than the last Bond film, Quantum of Solace, and I LIKED that one! As I've mentioned on my Favorite Films article, Casino Royale is one of my top 10 favorite movies of all-time and I've loved the James Bond franchise since I was little kid. So I'm very excited to see Skyfall bring back the same level of awesomeness that Casino Royale did.

Skyfall stars Daniel Craig in his third go-round as James Bond, Judy Dench returns as M, and Ralph Fiennes and Javier Bardem join them in roles I'm excited to see play out. This film can't come out soon enough, in my opinion.


S: It will be here soon! So excited for this little tease!

Another Entertaining Ensemble Comedy, But With Babies!: Our Review of "What To Expect When You're Expecting" (2012)

Directed By: Kirk Jones (Nanny McPhee)

Starring: Elizabeth Banks, Cameron Diaz, Jennifer Lopez, Brooklyn Decker, Anna Kendrick, Ben Falcone, Matthew Morrison, Rodrigo Santoro, Dennis Quiad, Chris Rock

Rating: PG-13 for crude and sexual content, thematic elements and language

Synopsis: Based on the best-selling pregnancy guide book of the same name, five different couples who are related to each other in one way or another, each experience different aspects of trying to have a baby.

REVIEW

Andrew: Hello readers! Even though the weather outside is absolutely perfect for sitting in the sun and grilling some burgers, Sarah and I hit up the theatre yet again today to see the new ensemble comedy What To Expect When You’re Expecting. (Don’t worry, we’ll do the outside fun today, too.)

Sarah, when we spoke about this movie in our weekly preview a few days ago I mentioned that I was curious to see how this compared to Rob Marshall’s recent ensemble films Valentine’s Day and New Year’s Eve. How do you think What To Expect When You’re Expecting fared compared to those two?

Sarah: I thoroughly enjoyed it! It was fun, it was funny, it was heartfelt, I feel that the cast worked well together, and it even provoked a tear here or there. I think it pretty much hit all the highs and lows of a fun movie! Did you have fun watching it?

A: I wouldn’t necessarily say that I had fun, because some of the things covered in the movie were actually kind of sad, but overall I did enjoy the film for what it was. There were plenty of times where I laughed (though I think most of the funny parts were spoiled in trailers or commercials) and other times where I was just happy with how certain events played out. So I’d say I liked it, yeah.

S: In all these ensemble movies, they usually try to get all of the characters connected somehow. I thought some of the connections were kind of weak, but I’m curious to hear what you think.

A: I actually think that it all worked for the most part, especially how Elizabeth Banks (Zack & Miri Make a Porno) and Ben Falcone’s (Bridesmaids) characters related to Brooklyn Decker (Battleship) and Dennis Quiad’s (The Parent Trap). Banks and Falcone seemed to be the primary couple to me and I think it worked well. Decker did a much better job in this film than she did in Battleship and after seeing her in Just Go With It and now this, I think she’d do well to stick to comedies.

Elizabeth Banks (left) and Brooklyn Decker play pregnant daughter-in-law and mother-in-law , and yes, in that order

I would say the only relationship that I felt was a stretch and should have been touched on more was Anna Kendrick’s (Up in the Air) relationship to anyone in the film. She was almost a stand-alone arc until the very end, and hers felt more forced than anyone else’s.

S: Yeah, Kendrick’s was the one that stood out like a sore thumb to me, too. And in second place was Cameron Diaz’s (There's Something About Mary) television fitness guru’s relationship to Falcone’s Gary. It kinda came out of nowhere.

I will say my absolute favorite part of the movie was “The Dudes.” That ensemble in and of itself worked so well together, that even though they gave away a lot of the funny parts in the trailer, I still laughed at every joke. It makes me hope that a group like that is something that actually exists when we finally decide to have children! That would be awesome.

A: Agreed! The four guys who comprise “The Dudes” are all very funny in their own right and worked well together. Chris Rock (Grown-Ups) in particular stood out amongst them.

Alex (Santoro, right) is sent to The Dudes by his wife Holly (Lopez) to try and get him jazzed about adopting

S: Another plus for the film, in my eyes, was that some of the directions they took with the character arcs I did not see coming. I won’t say exactly what they are but I liked the range of the stories, who they affected, and how they were handled.

A: True. Ok, now for a little negative point, I do feel that the movie was a little too long and that’s because they had so many characters to work with. There were stretches were some characters weren’t seen for long periods of time and I kind of wondered what happened to them, but that’s a small quibble.

S: That didn’t bother me so much. One of the things I liked about the movie is that it covered almost every aspect you can have with having children. From the easy pregnancy to the very difficult pregnancy, to adoption, to multiple children…it really covered the gamut and I felt that was fun. It gave depth to the movie, and it tied in with what the movie is loosely based on – the book. It really showed that you can’t actually expect any one thing because every pregnancy is different.

A: Good point. Overall, for me, I’d say that I did enjoy What To Expect When You’re Expecting and I feel that it handled all the different storylines well (I especially liked Anna Kendrick’s), and I’ll actually say I liked this more than Marshall’s two films. It’s not a great movie, but it’s not a bad one either.

S: Yeah. I will warn you, Readers, that if you or your loved one/significant other has baby fever, that I would avoid this movie! There are some pretty adorable children in it! And all in all it’s very heartwarming to the idea of having children.

It was cute and I don’t regret seeing it. I’d say that it’s a great way to kill an afternoon. Maybe try to catch it during a matinee. I would definitely say What To Expect When You’re Expecting is definitely a better overall movie than what we saw yesterday, would you agree?

A: 100% agreed. Though I will say that if you disliked Marshall’s two movies, definitely skip this one.

(Out of Five Clapboards)

Photo Courtesies: Moviefone, Filmofilia, New York Times

You Sunk My Low Expectations!: Our Review of "Battleship" (2012)

Directed By: Peter Berg (Hancock)

Starring: Taylor Kitsch, Rihanna, Brooklyn Decker, Liam Neeson, Alexander Skarsgaard

Rating: Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence, action and destruction, and language

Synopsis: Based on the classic Hasbro board game, a small Naval fleet comes across some alien ships in the middle of the Pacific during an international Naval war games exercise. Led by reckless Lieutenant Alex Hopper (Kitsch), the fleet must figure out a way to defeat and escape the invaders despite being cut off from the rest of the U.S. Navy.

REVIEW

Andrew: Hello readers! The summer movie season kicked off a couple of weeks ago with the highly anticipated The Avengers, and it didn’t fail to deliver even with the sky-high expectations Sarah and I had placed on it.

Well…tonight was a bit different. We hit up the local AMC Theatres to catch this week’s major blockbuster, Battleship, and if you read our weekly preview we posted on Thursday, you know we went in to this one with almost no expectations whatsoever.

So Sarah, did Battleship exceed the very minimal bar we had set for it, or did it manage to fall short?

Sarah: Hmm…I think it hit right about where my expectation level was. It could be that my expectations were so low that that’s where it fell, but it just happened that way. It didn’t blow my mind, but I managed to laugh during it.

How about you? Did it hit your expectations?

A: Considering how low mine were, I’d have to say that there were moments where the film exceeded them and then other times where it plummeted well below.

Let’s put it this way – Battleship is not good. It’s just not. It is BIG, it is LOUD and there are lots of explosions that would make Michael Bay proud. But Peter Berg has somehow managed to make Bay’s awful Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen look like Citizen Kane compared to this.

S: Ouch! I’m not sure I would agree with you on that. I still think that Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is awful, and probably not even worth watching to bridge the gap between 1 and 3, but you’re right. This was not a good movie. It made you think at times that it was good – what with all the guns going off and the aliens attacking – but then I started noticing things.

For example, the game boards came to life on the big screen. As I’m watching the alien attack I started to notice that their ammunition obviously resembled the plastic pegs from the game. I understand that this movie has not been hiding the fact that it’s based on the board game, but c’mon. That was more comical than anything else in the film and I don’t think it was meant to be comical.

A: Well obviously it’s never been hiding the fact it’s based on the board game, but in my opinion, other than some parts of the last act, the alien peg missiles were the only thing that showed me the filmmakers were actually making a movie based on the board game.

What? When you played Battleship as a kid, you didn't play as the aliens?

S: I don’t know about that. The positions of the ships when the shield goes up, and just the overall feel of 3-on-3, encased in this globe that no one else can get into, and they have no way out but to work within the constricted space. I guess I saw more aspects of the game than you, but it was still comical. I laughed when I’m sure I wasn’t meant to laugh and I usually hate those people, but I was one of them tonight. (WARNING, SPOILERISH EDIT AHEAD: I also enjoyed that in the final battle, the battleship does get hit but only by 3 missiles, and as any veteran Battleship player will tell you, it takes 4 hits to sink the battleship!)

A: Yeah, the unintentional comedy factor was quite high for this movie. A lot of terrible one-liners, bad acting, stupid situations and more…it was bad. That said, the opening act of the movie up until the naval ships actually head out to sea for the “naval games” wasn’t half bad! It was intentionally funny and it worked, and I actually kind of got into the story of Kitsch’s (John Carter) Alex Hopper trying to gather up the courage to ask Liam Neeson’s (Taken) Admiral Shane for his blessing to marry his daughter, played by Brooklyn Decker (Just Go With It), who didn’t really do a whole lot.

Speaking of Decker not doing a whole lot, one of the biggest negatives of the entire film to me was characters either being miscast or having not much to do with the plot of the film. Neeson and Alexander Skarsgard (True Blood) get short shrift, in my opinion, and one guy who gets too much screen-time is Gregory D. Gadson as Lieutenant Colonel Mick Canales. Gadson’s character is a former soldier who has lost both his legs and his physical trainer is Decker’s character. And it’s not that he’s a bad actor, it’s just that he’s an actual soldier being asked to act and it’s not pretty.

S: I actually think that it’s kind of cool that he’s a real soldier, but I agree that he probably shouldn’t have been given that much screen-time. The acting was pretty horrible. I’ve decided that Taylor Kitsch plays Taylor Kitsch pretty well. We’ve seen him in two films already this year and he plays the same character in each of them. I was pretty disappointed in his role. I expected to see Neeson in more than just the beginning and the end. They introduced characters from NASA and Washington, D.C. that really didn’t add much to the story, and it bothered me a little bit that there was no real bad guy!

Usually with aliens movies there’s someone who’s trying to profit from the alien invasion and that was missing. I’m not going to lie, for it being such a crappy movie I expected there to be someone in the background pulling some financial political strings. If I’m going to see a bad movie, I prefer them to be predictable.

Rihanna (right) co-stars as Petty Officer Raikes, and sadly for her, gets a lot of the worst lines

A: See, while you say there wasn’t any antagonist I disagree because obviously the aliens were the bad guys. But what bugged me about them is that WE NEVER FIND OUT WHY THEY CAME. Nowhere do they ever say why exactly the aliens came to Earth, why they’re so violent, and why they hate overpasses so much (you’ll see). There’s one point where we see that it’s not the first time the aliens have done this, but we never understand what their reasoning is. That bugs me.

(Side tangent: Much like in Independence Day, what’s to stop the aliens from coming back after getting beaten once? This fight can’t be over, right? It’s not like the home planet is going to not get any word back from the first ones they sent to Earth and then just go “Welp, moving on!” End side tangent.)

S: Yeah! All they really gave the aliens is that they’re not too keen on sunlight. That’s it. Nothing else. We didn’t even establish if they could communicate with us in any way. Very disappointing.

A: Speaking of disappointing, before we wrap this up real quick, I was also disappointed that the movie is based on and called freaking Battleship and yet 99% of the movie has nothing to do with an actual battleship. Instead they’re on Naval Destroyers. Just one of the many things this film missed the mark on, if you ask me.

S: And where were all the other ships? Stuck outside the playing field. Yeah, it was a disappointed movie and I’m kind of getting sick of writing negative movie review this week. I’m hoping the next movie we see, What to Expect When You’re Expecting, is funnier if anything, even if it’s not particularly better.

I just wish somewhere along the way someone said “Um no, this is not good.” They spent all this money on big name actors and special effects and no one seemed to pay attention to who was writing the damn thing. And they never even said, “You sunk my battleship!” Thanks for ruining a great childhood game for me, Universal and Hasbro.

A: And with that, I’d say it’s safe to say our final word on Battleship is to skip it. Don’t waste your time or money on it.

(Out of Five Clapboards)

Photo Courtesies: MoviePoster.com, Time ,Teentainment

Our Preview for This Week's New Releases (for Friday, May 18th)

Andrew: Hello readers! It's a double-whammy kind of day here at Two Tickets For... Because of an internet outage last night we weren't able to post our review of Sacha Baron Cohen's new comedy The Dictator until this morning (click on the link to read our review), and now it's time for our Weekly Preview!

Technically The Dictator should have been a part of this preview, but because it came out on a Wednesday it was a day early. Therefore we're going to preview the other two big releases coming out this week starting with Hasbro and Universal's new team-up, Battleship.

Based on the classic Hasbro board game of the same name, Battleship is directed by Peter Berg, who made his name with the film adaptation of Buzz Bissinger's non-fiction book "Friday Night Lights", the television adaptation of the same book, and more recently directed the disappointing Will Smith vehicle Hancock. But the most noticeable thing here is that Berg's movie version of this board game clearly involves more than just naval battleship duking it out on the high seas - Sarah, what do you think of the involvement of aliens in this movie?

Sarah: I have to say, I'm a little leary of this movie. Movies based on rides? Pirates of the Carribbean? The Haunted Mansion? Sure, I can get around that. But a board game? I know Jumangi was a movie about a board game but this is taking it to another level. I used to play this game with my cousins ALL the time. And now they're throwing in aliens? I mean when I saw the preview all I thought was, "Michael Bay is doing a new movie that isn't Transformers?" I don't know, I think that this movie looks like a combination of War of the Worlds and Transformers all rolled into one.

What do you think?

A: When I first heard that Hasbro was going to start doing film adaptations of their board games because of the success of the Transformers franchise, I was skeptical. Then I started reading about the names being attached to some of the announced adaptations my interest was piqued. Check these out:

 - A Monopoly movie directed by Ridley Scott, possibly written by Aaron Sorkin
 - A new Clue movie directed by Gore Verbinski
 - A Ouija movie being developed by Platinum Dunes, the horror movie production company co-started by Michael Bay and known for their The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Friday the 13th remakes
 - A Candy Land movie starring Adam Sandler (this one is seriously happening)

And of course, Battleship. Out of all of these Hasbro games, this was the one I was most interested in because I felt that a movie about huge battleships fighting it out would be cool. But then I saw the trailer and it killed any hope I had for it because of the aliens. Now it just looks like a worse version of Transformers.

Official Trailer for Battleship

S: Yeah I'm still not super stoked about the idea of my favorite childhood board games being turned into movies, but I suppose that's not for me to decide. But just know that I will be critiquing them like crazy.

And I'm not too excited about this one if only for the fact that Taylor Kitch was basically ruined for me in John Carter and here he is again in an alien action flick. There are some other, much better names in this movie that I hope won't be tarnished forever by their choice to be in a boardgame movie.

A: You just brought up my next point about my skepticism of this movie - the casting. Taylor Kitsch seems like a nice enough guy but he was miscast in John Carter and I don't have high hopes for him in Battleship. Then you have Rihanna (!) in a lead role and I lose all hope. I'm waiting to see if it can be saved by the awesome Liam Neeson as the Navy Admiral in charge of Kitsch's Lieutenant, so we'll see.

Ok! Next on the agenda is a movie that we're actually kind of looking forward to, and that's the new ensemble comedy What to Expect When You're Expecting. Based off the pregnancy guide book of the same name, this stars a whole lot of famous people (a la Valentine's Day and New Year's Eve):

 - Jennifer Lopez (Maid in Manhattan) and Rodrigo Santoro (300) as a couple looking to adopt
 - Cameron Diaz (There's Something About Mary) and Matthew Morrison (Glee) as a singer and a dancer, respectively, who are a pair on a celebrity dancing show
 - Elizabeth Banks (Zack & Miri Make a Porno) and Ben Falcone (Bridesmaids) as a baby boutique guru and her husband who are pregnant for the first time
 - Brooklyn Decker (Battleship) and Dennis Quiad (The Parent Trap) as an "older man with younger wife" couple, and Quiad also happens to be Falcone's character's father
 - Anna Kendrick (Up In the Air) as a young woman who gets pregnant from a one-night stand
 - Chris Rock (Grown-Ups), Rob Huebel (I Love You, Man), Thomas Lennon (Reno 911!) and Amir Talai (Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanimo Bay) as "The Dads", a group of guys who bond together with their kids' playgroup

The trailer makes us laugh almost every time we see it, doesn't it Sarah?

Official Trailer for What to Expect When You're Expecting

S: Oh my gosh, I am so excited to see this one! It looks hilarious and i do laugh every single time I see the trailer. While I am a little hesitant of the integrity of large, highly famous actors all in the movie together, I think this one will be different. Since there are so many comedians I think it will be a nice balace. So many of these actors make me laugh that I am excited to see how they all work together!

Are you excited about this one?

A: I won't say I'm excited per se, because that's a little too much, but I do laugh at the trailer and I'm sort of looking forward to seeing it because of some of the names and because I want to see how well it fares compared to Rob Marshall's two ensemble comedies we mentioned earlier. I actually kind of like Marshall's films, so I want to see if I walk out of this one feeling the same way.

S: Yea, even with New Years Eve we enjoyed ourselves! I'm excited that this summer is looking to be a good mix of action and comedy with a little horror thrown in for good measure.

A: Now that you mention it, I think we should maybe do a Summer Movie Preview sometime soon of what we're looking forward to most in June, July and August. So definitely be on the lookout for that readers!

I can guarantee we will be seeing the two movies we previewed today sometime this weekend, so be on the lookout for those this weekend, and as always, thanks for reading! 

Sacha Baron Cohen's New Character Falls Flat: Our Review of "The Dictator" (2012)

Directed By: Larry Charles (Borat)

Starring: Sacha Baron Cohen, Anna Faris, Ben Kingsley, Jason Mantzoukas

Rating: Rated R for strong crude and sexual content, brief male nudity, language and some violent images

Synopsis: When Admiral General Aladeen (Baron Cohen), the vicious dictator of the fictional North African country of Wadiya, is called to the United Nations in New York City, his uncle Tamir (Kingsley) has him kidnapped and replaced with a lookalike. Aladeen must then find a way to stop his uncle’s plans to make Wadiya a democracy, and plenty of racist and stereotypical jokes ensue.

REVIEW

Andrew: Hello readers! We’re officially starting to get into the hectic schedule of summer movies for us here at Two Tickets For… with a lot of big name movies having come out this month with more to come soon.

Thankfully we were helped out this week by getting a new release coming out on a Wednesday, so we went and saw it so we could get you this review! Tonight we saw Sacha Baron Cohen’s new comedy The Dictator, and I have to say right off the bat, Sarah, it was definitely different than Cohen’s previous starring vehicles, but it wasn’t as good.

Sarah: It’s almost as if a scripted movie didn’t agree with him. We’ve seen him in bit parts and in other movies, but this was the first we’ve seen him in a starring role in a non-mockumentary style. And I was a little disappointed. The storyline was weak, it was choppy… I mean, while there were plenty of laughs, some seemed to be completely separate from the rest of the movie.

A: I know exactly what you mean. As we were leaving the theatre I said I felt like this was just a series of skits that were hastily put together in an attempt to make it a coherent story. You’re absolutely right in that there are plenty of funny moments and jokes, but altogether it’s just a weak feature film.

While watching the movie I almost felt uncomfortable and it wasn’t because of the nature of the jokes necessarily (because plenty of them are racist or stereotypical) but because it seemed like there would be about five jokes in a particular scene and only one or two of them would make me laugh. It felt like watching a comedian struggling on a live stage.

Sacha Baron Cohen as Admiral General Aladeen giving an execution order, a running gag that grew tired for us

S: And I have to admit that I got a little tired of the stereotypical jokes after a while. I agree! It was definitely reminiscent of watching a struggling stand-up comic. The jokes became redundant, they all kind of went along the same lines, and while there were ones that were funnier than others, there was never a time when the whole theatre laughed together. And in that sense I feel like the movie failed.

There’s one scene in particular where Baron Cohen’s Admiral General Aladeen learns to…how do I put this...pleasure himself…and it was one of the most uncomfortable scenes I’ve ever had to sit through. It went from funny to “Oh my gosh I need to turn away from this.” It was just…not good.

A: I can see where you’re coming from with that particular scene. I personally found it hilarious, mainly because of the physical acting by Baron Cohen and the song choice during the scene (Kelly Clarkson’s “A Moment Like This”), but I see what you mean.

Here’s the thing for me – I like Sacha Baron Cohen and I think he’s a comedic genius. Borat was absolutely brilliant and I also thought Bruno was pretty funny. But where Cohen got his laughs in those films by getting actual responses out of unknowing REAL people, it seemed like he was forcing a LOT of the jokes this time to elicit similar responses from the audience. It just didn’t feel the same. I credit him for the attempt but the execution was flawed.

S: I would agree with you. I’d say my favorite part of the movie was the music itself. If you listen to the music you recognize popular tunes, but what they’ve done is “translated” pop music songs into Aladeen’s language, so it makes it seem relevant but also adds a comedic twist to the score.

A: Good point. I first noticed that when I recognized the music for R.E.M.’s “Everybody Hurts” but then it was NOT Michael Stipe singing. There are other examples I can’t remember right now, but I also don’t want to spoil much of anything else.

Ben Kingsley (left) and John C. Reilly (right) are among the actors that go to waste in The Dictator

Other than that, I felt like there were other gallant efforts from the supporting cast, especially Jason Mantzoukas as Aladeen’s former head nuclear scientist (and is hilarious on The League), but that all in all it was just a scattershot movie.

S: I thought Anna Faris (The House Bunny) as Aladeen's love interest, Zoey, was one of the elements that did not work with the storyline. I understand the main chracter’s arc to find love, but it was a low-tier plot that just didn’t do it for me. I think it’s safe to say, while we got a few chuckles out of the movie, we were not super impressed.

A: Yeah, if you’re a real big fan of Sacha Baron Cohen’s material then I’m sure you’ll enjoy the movie to the extent that I personally did, but if I’m being objective, the funniest part of the movie tonight was the red-band trailer for Seth McFarlane’s Ted and the teaser trailer for next year’s Anchorman sequel.

S: I think it’s a shame that it didn’t pan out after all of the publicity this movie has been getting, and I would definitely say wait to Netflix this one, don’t spend the money to see it in theatres.

(Out of Five Clapboards)

Photo Courtesies: Total Film, Screen Daily, Movie Fanatic