Muppets Most Wanted (Review)
Muppets Most Wanted
2014
Written by James Bobin and Nicholas Stoller
Directed by James Bobin
The Muppets return again with a new adventure that feels strangely familiar. While it is great to see the Muppets actually being the stars of their movies again, Muppets Most Wanted lacks the emotional depth of some of the prior films to focus instead on a heist caper that features an evil twin and Muppets running wild under no supervision. The center core is buried a bit deeper, showing the Muppets can’t really survive on their own as they need Kermit’s guidance to keep them from drowning in their own excess.
In Muppets Most Wanted a new manager – Dominic Badguy – signs with the group and gets them to go on a world tour that suspiciously is happening in towns needed to get pieces for a jewel heist. More importantly, Constantine, the world’s most dangerous frog, has escaped from his Russian gulag and managed to switch places with Kermit, who finds himself incarcerated while Constantine takes the place of our main frog. Hijinks then ensue.
Muppets Most Wanted shines when it’s doing meta-commentary and breaking the never-present fourth wall. It continues literally from the final seconds of The Muppets, complete with Muppet confusion on what to do next. The opening song will go on to be touted as a manifesto for the film itself, and I particularly like the song Constantine sings as an apology to Miss Piggy, because it summarizes his entire allure to the group and why no one seems to notice anything is wrong. Constantine becomes a Satan character, promising the Muppets whatever they want to keep them happy while he and Dominic Badguy plot to steal the crown jewels of England. The various characters take this to extremes, resulting in increasingly bizarre and disastrous acts. Both Constantine and Dominic use unbridled freedom as a weapon and a distraction, but it soon becomes apparent just why oversight and control is needed. At times Muppets Most Wanted turns into Muppets Needful Things, but luckily things get solved for they start getting Stephen King disturbing.
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Categories: Good, Movie Reviews Tags: Bill Barretta, Chloë Moretz, Christoph Waltz, Danny Trejo, David Rudman, Eric Jacobson, Frank Langella, James Bobin, Jemaine Clement, Lady Gaga, Matt Vogel, Muppets, Nicholas Stoller, Peter Linz, Ray Liotta, Ricky Gervais, Rob Corddry, Ross Lynch, Salma Hayek, Steve Whitmire, Tina Fey, Tom Hiddleston, Tony Bennett, Ty Burrell, Zach Galifianakis
The Campaign
The Campaign
2012
Written by Shawn Harwell and Chris Henchy
Directed by Jay Roach
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Meeting of the International Brotherhood of Serious Men
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Arriving early enough we aren’t sick to death of political commercials yet, The Campaign delivers solid laughs as it carpet bombs the political process. Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis pull no punches in the dirtiest campaign ever, but sadly what might just be a glimpse at the future. As the battle gets increasingly fierce, the antics get increasingly wild. And just you watch, some idiot candidate will copy something from this film. It will happen.
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What happens when you eat too much Curves cereal!
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Money rules politics, now more than ever. The Campaign does more to show the problems with the Citizens United verdict than any documentary. Comedians are one of the few brave enough to spit truth in the face of grand power, and the only ones to do it in a way people will listen. The Campaign uses actual political parties, which I thought would hut the film, but actually makes it a stronger piece. It manages to hit all sides of political excess and holds no punches. Director Jay Roach was fresh off of Game Change, a serious look at the 2008 presidential election and the Sarah Palin decision, giving him added insight that helped sharpen the knives here.
Basic political speak is taken to the woodshed, and you realize just how stupid some of the buzzwords sound when outside of the political framework. Dogs are declared unAmerican, the Chinese become scary words as the current job-taking enemy du jour, and everyone under the sun becomes the backbone of America.
And once again Tars has sold out, as this was a pre-release free screening that I scored tickets to.
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Snakes on a Campaign!
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Do it. DO IT!!!!
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The Muppets (Review)
The Muppets
2011
Directed by James Bobin
Written by Jason Segel and Nicholas Stoller
After a far-too-long absence at the theater (I remember going to see Muppets From Space in a deserted theater like it was yesterday…), the Muppets return to the big screen in a big way. And as you can guess from the mention of seeing Muppets From Space, I’m a huge Muppets fan. Enough that I can rattle off obscure background Muppets and spot errors on the Muppet wiki. But I’m putting the fanboy aside to give a nice objective review. And that review is positive. Not because I liked the film (I did), but because it’s a good film.
The Muppets are more than just puppets, just entertainment for kids. The Muppets are entertainment for all ages, treating the audience of all ages with respect and dignity. They may not have invented that kind of entertainment, but they rode it to a new plateau. Jim Henson was never afraid to tread new ground, always experimenting and improving, wanting to put out quality products that appealed to everyone.
As for the Pixar short before it – most of the jokes seem to be just the concepts of the fast food toy characters rather than actual story. But it is funny and does deal with abandonment issued and support groups. And some of those toys look like they come from neat fake franchises. I should just design fake Happy Meal toys as a hobby…
It’s time to start the music…
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Categories: Good, Movie Reviews Tags: Alan Arkin, Amy Adams, Bill Barretta, Bill Cobbs, Chris Cooper, Dave Goelz, David Grohl, David Rudman, Donald Glover, Emily Blunt, Eric Jacobson, James Carville, Jason Segel, Jim Henson, Jim Parsons, John Krasinski, Judd Hirsch, Ken Jeong, Matt Vogel, Mickey Rooney, Muppets, Neil Patrick Harris, Nicholas Stoller, Peter Linz, Rashida Jones, Sarah Silverman, Selena Gomez, Steve Whitmire, Whoopi Goldberg, Zach Galifianakis
Puss in Boots
Puss in Boots
2011
Directed by Chris Miller
We all knew there would be a Puss in Boots movie the second the image of Puss with his giant cute eyes became a computer desktop background months before Shrek 2: Dark Territory hit theaters. And while the Shrek series has been on a rocketship to planet Crap, Puss in Boots manages to be more entertaining than any Shrek sequel. And I’m not just saying that because I liked the film and saw it for free at an advanced screening. In fact, I had a bad time at the theater until the film started, thanks to some awful customer service that guaranteed I’ll never buy concessions there again. But the humor was good enough to calm my nerves and even get me happy again.
Puss in Boots is a spinoff of the Shrek films, but manages to feel somewhat independent of the Shrek universe while still being a part of it. There are still fairy tale elements running around, but the desert environments, Mexican flavor, and wild west inspiration give us a different spin. We follow our familiar character, Puss in Boots, as he has a prequel adventure that is both a story of its own and an origin story (done in flashback.) The decision to not make it a direct origin story, but to start from a familiar place and then go backwards before heading forwards was the right one. We already like Puss in Boots, and don’t need to be sold on liking him. The flashback to his childhood instead is plot related, making it feel important and not just filler.
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