Let the Awesomeness begin

The original Ted, had a killer premise: a teddy bear comes to life and becomes a young boy's best friend. Years later, the novelty has worn off and he's become a hard drinking, pot smoking, whoring bad influence, and the boy is now a man who leaves a very similar lifestyle. It was a gross out funny and was something I've never seen before. The premise for the sequel is also great: Ted's new marriage hits hard times so like any self-respecting white trash American, they decide to have a baby to save it. Their quest leads to them eventually to adoption, but they can't. Why? Ted isn't a real person so he can't adopt. He's recognized by the state of Massachusetts as property. From there on, Ted goes on a mission to be recognized a person in the eyes of the law. There couldn't be a more pressing modern concern than civil rights. And in light of the Supreme Court legalizing same sex marriage, the sequel's message couldn't be any more relevant. But oddly Ted 2, ducks and dives fulfilling on its proposition. After the first 45 minutes when, MILD SPOILER ALERT, Ted loses his first court case, the movie veers away from the courtroom. I can guess why: Ted 2 is a comedy, not a legal drama so it wants to get back to fart jokes. But this is a huge miss. The movie devolves from a fascinating civil rights comedy (if there's such a category) into basically a stoner road trip flick, with a detour that brings back a character from the original for no good reason. Another misstep? The sequel does NOT bring back a character that very much should've been included: Mia Kunis' Lori, Wahlberg's love interest from the first. They're divorced by the time Ted 2 begins and the only reason I can think is to give Wahlberg more to do by introducing another love interest played by Amanda Seyfried. Seyfried is fine in a very underdeveloped role but doing away with Maggie offscreen undermines the events of the original and doesn't add anything interesting to replace it. Instead, Seyfried is revealed to be a major stoner and she bonds with the boys over bongs and an extended 80's-style montage that goes on a bit too long. The movie doesn't return to the issue of Ted's personhood until the end in a well written speech delivered by Morgan Freeman that doesn't feel earned, mainly because we've been watching the Ted version of Harold and Kumar for the past 45 minutes. The movie disappoints because it could've been so much more than a crude comedy. But Ted 2 is still a comedy. I laughed out loud several times and giggled even more times. I had a good time, and although the jokes don't have the same hit ratio as the original, it wasn't a bad way to spend 2 hours. I just wished MacFarlene had stuck the landing so to speak, and delivered a sequel that was better than the original. FINAL GRADE: B-

Every generation has a few movies that really define them. They capture their imagination and make up the bar that all future films forever try to jump over. For me, Jurassic Park, released in 1993 when I was 10 years old, is one of those films. I remember buying the VHS when it came out and nearly wearing it out by watching it again and again. In 1997 The Lost World came out and at the time it was one of the most disappointing experiences of my young life. It was not as "fun" as the original nor did it inspire amazement or excitement. It was sarcastic, dark and a little mean. By the time the 3rd one was released in 2001, I was a senior in high school and understood that the 2nd film was not "bad" (in fact it's quite good), but merely different, and nothing was ever going to captivate me because I wasn't 10 years old anymore. The 3rd movie brought back my favorite character, Dr. Grant, but even looking at it with years of perspective, it's still a mediocre movie that has nothing new to say and is merely cashing in on the memories of the original. I'm glad to say Jurassic World does not repeat this mistake. It's a smart, fun action movie that has more story than you might expect, and well crafted sequences that had me slackjawed. In the 20 years since the original, John Hammond's vision of a theme park with dinosaurs is in full effect. We see the park in all it's glory and I have to commend the production designers because down to the "jimmy buffet margaritaville restaurant" it feels very much like a real place. Profits are declining ever so slightly so the suits decide that genetically engineered dinos are the way to go. When their lab experiment escapes, chaos ensues. There's much to love beyond the action: #1 the pacing. We get at least 20 minutes to establish the world we now inhabit which is vital to let us get to know the characters and build suspense. Then when the action starts, it's not just full speed ahead. The film makers know that if they did that, the movie would burn out and be 60 minutes long. There are honest-to-God plot twists. Who made the dino? What is it made of? What can it do? What does it hunt? Every answer leads to another scene of more and more dinosaurs attacking humans and I loved every minute of it. The bad: too much CGI. Part of the magic of the original was the liberal use of puppets to stand in close up for the dinosaurs. I didn't see that here. I saw a lot of computer generated mayhem and it doesn't have the same effect. Chris Pratt's character too is never given a proper backstory. He's basically Chris Pratt. He's goofy one moment, then dead serious the next, followed by romantic. The inconsistency lessens the impact of rooting for the character, although it does add to the surprises. Plus he's Chris Pratt, so he remains very likable. Somewhere out there there is a 10 year old who sat through Jurassic World and it might be their defining film. The movie is good enough but only time will tell if this one has a lasting impact. As it stands, its the second best in the series followed by Lost world and Jurassic Park III a far fourth. FINAL GRADE: B+

Mad Max is a 2 hour long chase scene that gets away with it because it's so well done. By well done, I mean, well staged action sequences that are suspenseful and glorious to look at it. Credit director George Miller who is back with his 4th Max movie, but his first in 30 years. He minimizes the use of CGI, relying on old school practical effects so that the movie feels much realer than, say, any entry in the Transformers series. When a car flips over and goes boom!, you can imagine a stunt guy flipped a car over and it exploded. Miller also creates a hell of a compelling lead. Surprisingly enough it's not Max, who gets a barely-there backstory which, unless you've seen the previous 3, you wouldn't be able to put together. The real star of the move is Charlize Theron as Furiousa. She's a bad ass female hero who's out to save a bunch of women held hostage as sex slaves for a warlord. She gets a fully realized arc. I wish that courtesy would've been extended to the titular character, Max, as the movie is woefully low on character development otherwise. And boy are there plenty of CHARACTERS to choose from. You have the evil leader Immortan Joe, the devoted follower turned hero Nox, then the 4 escaping women who have cool names like Capable and Toast the Knowing. There's so many interesting people in the movie, it's a shame we couldn't know a bit more about them. That's a weakness with the film, and one that leaves you a bit wanting after the characters (and us) stop running and have a chance to catch our breath. But you should run...to the movie theater to see this! Ha! It's quite thrilling. FINAL GRADE: B+

Pitch Perfect 2 is a sweet and funny sequel to the 2012 original that doesn't quite reach the same musical or comedic highs as the original. The Bellas are back but not in the best of shape. They are embarrassed on the national stage while performing for the president in an incident that only needs the name as an introduction: Muffgate. To get back their reputation, and save their legacy, they agree to compete in the World Championship agains the European Champions, the German "Das Sound Machine." It's a nice set up that places the Bellas as underdogs once again. This makes it fun to root for them and allows us as many performances (a highlight of the films) as possible. First time director Elizabeth Banks shoots these performances lovingly, using enough camera angles to make them exciting without overwhelming us to the point of nauseau like certain episodes of Glee I can remember. Where she could've used the same restraint is in the editing of the movie. You get the idea that the feel-good loose atmosphere of the movie extended to the set where the actors were given free reign to improvise. This leaves many clunker moments in the movie and needlessly extends the running time. The movie could've been 20 minutes shorter only by cutting jokes that don't work. For example, as much as I liked Becca's story arc (she is thinking past the Bellas to a creer as a music producer), her boss is given way too much screen time and he's painfully unfunny. A little of him would've gone a long way. But the movie IS still funny, which is the point, and you'll be entertained, ready for a third. FINAL GRADE: B