Movie Review Pitch Perfect 3

Pitch Perfect 3 (2017) 

Directed by Trish Sie

Written by Kay Cannon, Mike White

Starring Anna Kendrick, Rebel Wilson, Hailee Steinfeld, Brittany Snow, Anna Camp, Elizabeth Banks

Release Date December 22nd, 2017

Low expectations are sometimes key to enjoying a particular kind of movie. For example, the third movie in a franchise that was only barely capable of supporting one sequel. The trailer for Pitch Perfect 3 turned out to be the perfect introduction to the supposed finale of the Pitch Perfect trilogy. The trailer was so bad that I expected the characters in the movie to walk on screen, fart, and give me the finger before walking off. That would have been only a slight improvement over that trailer.

What a nice surprise then to find that Pitch Perfect 3 is way better than the trailer indicated. Sure, the film is yet another iteration of the comedy of the awkward pause which has come to plague modern comedy since its introduction in the mid-oughts, but those jokes really only hang around the first half of the film. In the second half we get actual funny jokes and a bizarre plot that works even as it has no business working.

We pick up the story of The Bellas, the A Cappella singing group at the center of this franchise, struggling to find their place in the real world. Becca (Anna Kendrick) has her dream job as a music producer turning into a nightmare when she deals with a talentless rapper who dislikes her changes to his terrible song. Fat Amy (Rebel Wilson) is out of work except for her street show performances as Fat Amy Winehouse and the rest of the Bellas are either bored or merely dissatisfied.

When the group mistakes an invitation to a party for an invitation to perform together at a party, they throw on their Bellas gear only to find humiliation and embarrassment waiting for them. Drowning their sorrows, they concoct a plan to get themselves on a USO Tour where they can at least spend time performing together. That the USO Tour also carries the opportunity to perform and tour with rap god D.J. Khaled makes it all the more exciting.

Find my full length review in the Geeks Community on Vocal 

Movie Review The Emoji Movie

The Emoji Movie (2017) 

Directed by Tony Leondis

Written by Tony Leondis, Eric Siegel, Mike White

Starring T.J Miller, James Corden, Patrick Stewart, Anna Faris

Release Date July 28th, 1997

What is there to be said about The Emoji Movie? That’s what I have been asking myself for the more than an hour since I sat down to write this review. This empty, mostly competent, 90+ minute ad for smartphone apps doesn’t inspire much to be written about it. Sure, I could rail against the empty, soulless, mercenary nature of what amounts to app product placement the movie, but I have been shouting into that void since the trailer for the film hit and no one seemed to care then. So, let’s just start writing and see what happens.

The Emoji Movie centers around Gene (Voiced by T.J Miller), a professional "Meh" emoji on his first day on the job in Textopolis, a home for Emoji’s inside a teenager’s phone. Gene’s parents Mel and Mary Meh (Steven Wright and Jennifer Coolidge) aren’t sure Gene is ready for the job of expressing indifference because, unlike other Emojis in Textopolis, Gene is able to perform other Emoji functions beyond just being the face of Meh.

When Gene panics and ruins a text to a girl by making a funny face instead of Meh, he’s set to be deleted as if he were a virus. This leads to Gene having to flee Textopolis with his new pal Hi-5 (James Corden) to find a hacker named Jailbreak (Anna Faris) whom he hopes will be able to reprogram him to be Meh and help Hi-5 get back into the favorites page of his owner’s phone where he was once among the most oft-used Emojis.

Read my full length review at Geeks.Media 

Movie Review Nacho Libre

Nacho Libre (2006) 

Directed by Jared Hess

Written by Jared Hess, Mike White, Jerusha Hess

Starring Jack Black, Peter Stormare, Moises Arias 

Release Date June 16th, 2006 

Published June 15th, 2006 

Jared Hess broke big with his debut feature Napoleon Dynamite. The cult that has grown from Napoleon has raised the stakes on Hess's young career. Expectations for his future success are huge and his follow-up, new to DVD, Nacho Libre is just the kind of oddly humorous, entirely offbeat, flick we might have expected.

Teaming Hess with another rising cult star Jack Black and his pal;writer Mike White is the kind of wonderfully inspired comic combination that Napoleon fans could have dreamed. Nacho Libre is a rare sort of movie made for a cult audience by cult figures. Whether the film can reach beyond the cult is a big question.

In Nacho Libre Jack Black stars as Ignacio, an orphan who grew up in a monastery and became a monk. He's in charge of the food which is just a notch below the kind of gruel described in a Dickens novel. Serving food has never been first and foremost on Ignacio's mind. Even as a child he was drawn to the dramatic spectacle of the Mexican wrestling ring and the masked heroes known as Luchadores.

One night the orphanage's food is stolen; Ignacio decides the only way to get the money to feed the children is to wear stretchy pants and become a luchadore. To do this he seeks out the very thief who stole the food, a skinny naif named Esqueleto (Hector Jimenez). With his speed and surprising strength, Esqueleto is the perfect partner for the newly dubbed Nacho.

Of course becoming a luchador is not easy. In fact Nacho and Esqueleto make a regular habit of getting their butts kicked by every possible combination of luchadore, fat, skinny even lilliputian luchadores. On the bright side they are paid even when they lose. The question becomes will the fame of the wrestling world go to Nacho's head or can he remain a humble monk and win the heart of a beautiful nun, Sister Encarnacion (Ana DeLa Reguera). Or can he possibly do both.

The plot description sounds far more straightforward than it actually is. In fact most of the comedy does not come from the oddball wrestling scenes but rather from Jack Black's unique persona. To get the humor of Nacho Libre you must be a fan of Jack Black and familiar with the kind of madcap insanity that entertains him.

Indeed it seems that much of the premise of Nacho Libre and the idea of Jack Black playing an outsized mexican wrestling champion extends from an idea that maybe only Jack Black and writer Mike White thought was funny. Then came director Jared Hess who took the unusual premise and filtered it through his deadpan comic perspective and the idea became even less accessible.

Esoteric doesn't begin to describe the humor of Nacho Libre. Sure there are plenty of the pratfalls and physical humor that Jack Black specializes in, but much of the film is an earnest examination of a man and a dream to become a luchadore. The humor then comes from Jack Black playing a character whose dream is to become a luchadore and if you don't think that is funny then Nacho Libre is not the movie for you.

To enjoy Nacho Libre you have to enjoy Jack Black and his manic energy, odd gesticulation and in this film, a funny accent. The story of Nacho Libre is earnest and oddly straightforward, the humor comes from Jack Black being a Mexican wrestler. I found it funny, but I can understand where some people might not.

For me, as a fan of Jack Black's strange sense of humor, his odd tics and verbal dynamics, Nacho Libre is a terrifically funny film. If however you are uninitiated to the cult of Jack black then Nacho Libre may be a trying experience, a series of earnest, deadpan examinations of the very odd life of an odd man who wears stretchy pants and dreams of leaping off the top rope. You have to smile at that last description to be part of the audience of Nacho Libre.

Movie Review School of Rock

School of Rock (2003) 

Directed by Richard Linklater 

Written by Mike White 

Starring Jack Black, Mike White, Joan Cusack, Sarah Silverman

Release Date October 3rd, 2003 

Published October 2nd, 2003

The premise is such a conventional sounding comic setup that it implies disaster. A slacker, wannabe rock star scams his way into teaching at a stuffy private school. However, when you look closer, you see that the story was penned by the brilliant Mike White, the mind behind The Good Girl and Chuck & Buck. It's directed by Richard Linklater who has already directed two masterpieces in this short century, Tape and Waking Life. Finally, the film’s star is that whirling dervish comic invention Jack Black. With this trio of brilliant minds behind it, the conventional comedy setup of School of Rock becomes the single funniest movie of 2003.

Dewey Finn (Black) has the dream of heavy metal guitar God, but not the talent. Thus, why his bandmates decide to oust him after a particularly bad show. Penniless and now jobless, Dewey is about to be kicked out of his apartment by his best friend Ned (Mike White) and Ned's harridan girlfriend Patti (Sarah Silverman). Then the phone rings, it's a private school calling for Ned to sub for an ailing teacher. Needing money to pay the rent Dewey steps in for Ned and begins teaching fifth grade.

Once in the school Dewey is clearly in over his head until he hears the kids in music class. What he discovers is that these are some very talented musicians who with his help could form a rock band to challenge his old band in a battle of the bands contest. So, telling the kids it's a class project, Dewey begins teaching the kids how to rock.

His teachings include rock history and rock appreciation, and homework is listening to Rush, Led Zeppelin and Yes. What's amazing is Black's passion for this music and his ease in communicating this passion to the kids. Using concert footage of classic drummers like Keith Moon and Neill Purtt and guitarists like Hendrix and Jimmy Page to teach the kids how to play. All the while playing out the conventional scenario of helping the kids overcome their problems with self-image and bullies. This inevitably leads to conflict with the school's uptight principal played by Joan Cusack and a Rocky style “overcoming the odds” ending.

However, in the capable hands of White, Linklater and Black this scenario never becomes trite. Black working from a script that White wrote specifically for him, has a passion for the material that comes blasting off the screen in bursts of comic genius. His interaction with the gifted child actors who played their own instruments is truly hysterical. Black carries the young actors over the rough spots that come to all young actors.

The music in the film is non-stop rock from AC/DC, Rush, Yes and a host of classic 70's rock tunes. What's really surprising is how good these kids are, and the songs written for them by Mike White and Jack Black. The songs, which have a vaguely Tenacious D sound are more than credible as is the playing by these gifted kids. The battle of the band's scenes at the end of the film showcases these talented young players playing well off of Black who is not a bad musician himself.

Richard Linklater directs with a perfectly relaxed camera and an eye for allowing his star to carry the day in every scene. Set the camera down and let Jack Black do something amazing. There is far more to it than that however, Linklater's style is present throughout the film but only in the softest of touches. He directs just enough to get exactly what he wants from each scene. This could be the mainstream hit that draws the indie director into the world of the big paycheck.

School Of Rock is clearly a showcase for Jack Black. It's the film that his fans have been waiting for him to make. The one that many people thought Orange County could be before MTV got a hold of it. This film should be enough to hold fans over till the Tenacious D movie is completed.

Movie Review The Good Girl

The Good Girl (2002) 

Directed by Miguel Arteta

Written by Mike White 

Starring Jennifer Aniston, Jake Gyllenhaal, John C. Reilly, Tim Blake Nelson

Release Date August 7th, 2002 

Published August 7th, 2002 

I sometimes wonder why I watch Friends. Was it the marketing hype? Was it the fact that seemingly everyone else watches it? Or. is the show actually pretty good. Honestly I'm not sure but I think that I like it because of the potential in the cast. Each member of the Friends cast has the talent to do something great. None has so far achieved that greatness.

Until now.

In The Good Girl, Jennifer Aniston is Justine Last, a bored to death cosmetics clerk at the Retail Rodeo. Justine hates her job and her coworkers, only tolerating their existence to make the job bearable. On top of that Justine is trapped in a loveless marriage to a lazy, shiftless pothead named Phil, expertly played by John C. Reilly. Phil and his pal Bubba (Tim Blake Nelson) paint houses together and spend most of their off hours on Justine's couch smoking weed.

Into all this comes Holden (Jake Gyllenhaal) a new hire at the Retail Rodeo. Holden is quiet and sad, always keeps to himself and Justine admires and envies his solitude. The two strike up a friendship that quickly moves to the bedroom. Of course things are never that easy. While Holden falls madly for Justine, she is unable to overcome her fears and leave her husband. After the excitement of leading the double life of wife and adulterer wears off, Justine begins to see Holden for who he truly is, an emotionally disturbed 22 year old child. The solitude and freedom she loved and coveted were products of cold indifferent parents and not her romantic notion of the tortured artist.

Aniston is superb. Her performance is raw and real. The decisions her character makes are at times shocking and dumb but the mistakes are made poignant by the desire for freedom that caused them and by Aniston's sympathetic eyes that seem constantly on the verge of tears. Aniston's supporting cast is equally strong, especially John C. Reilly who makes the husband's cluelessness endearing and sympathetic. In a great scene near the end, we find out why Phil smokes pot so much, a scene that is funny, touching and cathartic.

Gyllenhaal continues his odd streak of films from Bubble Boy to Donnie Darko and now this. In this film we see almost a repeat of his Darko role but with more sadness and rage. Writer Mike White and director Miguel Arteta teamed previously on the much buzzed about pic Chuck & Buck. After seeing The Good Girl, I desperately want to see Chuck & Buck. If it's as good as The Good Girl, we could have the next hot indie team on our hands.

The Good Girl is an art film with a pop sensibility provided by the casting of Aniston shedding her Friends role and becoming a great actress. This film could actually go down in history as the movie that killed Friends. With Aniston getting such terrific reviews and Oscar buzz it won't be long before she leaves the small screen for good.

Movie Review Orange County

Orange County (2002) 

Directed by Jake Kasden 

Written by Mike White 

Starring Colin Hanks, Jack Black, Catherine O'Hara, John Lithgow, Schuyler Fisk

Release Date January 11th, 2002 

Published January 10th, 2002 

Jack Black is a star, anyone who saw High Fidelity and Shallow Hal knows it. The box office returns for Hal definitely show it, and the comparisons to John Belushi easily solidify his status. Like any star there are always missteps, films that were not quite up to par, anyone remember Saving Silverman I'm still trying to forget it. Orange County isn't nearly as bad as Silverman, it is in fact not that bad at all. But it isn't great either.

County stars Colin Hanks as Sean Brumder, a So-Cal surfer dude who after a friend's death finds his calling as a writer. Don't worry, the film isn't nearly as dark as the setup might lead you to believe. In fact the friend's funeral provides the visual joke of girls attending the beach funeral in black bikinis and the guys in black Hawaiian shirts. The scene also provides a glimpse into what director Jake Kasdan may have been going for as far as the film's tone. The rest of the story follows Sean's attempts to get into Stanford University to work with the writer who inspired him to write his first story.

Of course this won't be easy, if it were there wouldn't be a movie. Sean's attempts are foiled by his school counselor (the wonderful Lily Tomlin, always funny) along with his midlife crisis Dad (John Lithgow) and Mom (Catherine O'Hara) in drunken stupor mode. Again, somewhat dark but played lightly, and aided greatly by Jack Black as Sean's druggie brother who provides the film's biggest laughs with his amazing energy and comic timing.

Sadly, Orange County is yet another movie where the best jokes are in the trailer, especially Jack Black's jokes which seem on TV to have been censored but in the film are as tame as the commercials. It's all still funny but we've already seen most of them. Of course we've heard about the cast's pedigree. Jake Kasdan is the son of Lawrence Kasdan, Schuyler Fisk, Sean's girlfriend, is the daughter of Sissy Spacek and Colin Hanks is the stepson of Rita Wilson, oh and the son of the biggest box office star in the world Tom Hanks.

But even with a good cast and some solid laughs, Orange County is just a slightly oddly sweet film that longs to be edgy but ends up merely distracting. And If I may editorialize, I don't blame Jake Kasdan. Something about this film's marketing campaign and the fact that it is the product of MTV films leads me to believe there may have been some compromising. That is, for the sake of a more teen friendly PG-13 rating as opposed to the edgier R -rated film Orange County longs to be.