Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs 2 review

CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS 2:

WHILE IT ISN’T AS FRESH AS ITS PREDECESSOR, IT’S STILL A DELICIOUSLY FUNNY ANIMATED ADVENTURE!

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** out of 4

COLUMBIA PICTURES AND SONY PICTURES ANIMATION

(From right to left) Flint Lockwood, Steve the Monkey, Sam Sparks, Berry, Officer Earl, and Manny in Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs 2

            Who’s up for some leftovers? Sony’s sequel to its 2009 animated comedy based on the popular children’s book, Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs is just as funny and delightful as its predecessor, but maybe not quite as tasty as its predecessor. Most of the cast from the first movie have returned for the sequel, except for Mr. T who provided the voice of Officer Earl in the predecessor, Terry Crews has taken over the role in the new movie.

            Shortly after the events of Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs, we find scientist, Flint Lockwood (voiced by Bill Hader-Superbad, Year One), now the hero of his island hometown, Swallow Falls, leaving the island with the rest of the townsfolk by his childhood hero, Chester V (voiced by Will Forte-Baby Mama, Rock of Ages) so Swallow Falls can get cleaned up after the cataclysmic food storm that was caused by Flint’s food processing machine, the “F.L.D.S.M.D.F.R”. After some time has passed, Flint, along with his friends, Sam Sparks (voiced by Anna Faris-The House Bunny, The Dictator), Chicken Brent (voiced by Andy Samberg-Hotel Transylvania, That’s My Boy, Hot Rod), Officer Earl (voiced by Terry Crews), Sam’s cameraman, Manny (voiced by Benjamin Bratt-Traffic, Despicable Me 2), Flint’s trusty talking pet monkey, Steve (voiced by Neil Patrick Harris-Harold & Kumar trilogy, The Smurfs), and his bushy eyebrowed, fishing metaphor making dad, Tim Lockwood (voiced by James Caan-The Godfather, Dick Tracy, Misery) have finally returned to Swallow Falls with an unexpected surprise, Flint’s machine was still functioning and not only has it created more food, but food animals like Shrimpanzees, Butter Frogs, Mosquitoast, Watermelephants, Cheesespiders, Tacodiles Supreme, and many other exotic “foodimals”.

            It’s up to Flint and his friends to find the machine and shut it down, before the food animals get off Swallow Falls and invade the rest of the world. During their adventure they’ll make several shocking discoveries, not only involving the food animals but something much, much bigger.

            I can’t say Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs 2 was a fantastic animated movie, I’ve seen much better, but as a silly cartoonish comedy, the film does its job well enough, despite the fact the first movie was still a little better, the jokes and characters were a little funnier in the predecessor. A lot of the visual humor such as the characters’ motions and facial expressions are incredibly comical and very fun to watch, especially Flint’s dad, that’s one of the things I loved about both movies.

            While the visual humor and the food jokes are funny, there’s no comparison between this movie and an animated feature made by Pixar or DreamWorks, Pixar and DreamWorks’ animated films are much better animated, funnier jokes, and more likable characters, but it doesn’t mean Cloudy 2 isn’t good with animation or comedy, the cartoony animation has a strange charm to it and the humor is very good.

            Remember back in my Smurfs 2 review, where I said if you wanted to see a good animated family film by Sony? Well, now’s your chance, unlike Smurfs 2, Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs 2 is funny all the way through, has familiar characters and great voice actors, and a delicious adventure to fill the belly of the eyes and imagination. 

Prisoners review

PRISONERS:

INTENSE, HEART POUNDING, AND SUSPENSEFUL FROM START TO FINISH!

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** 1/2 out of 4

WARNER BROS. PICTURES

Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenhaal in Prisoners

            So far this year, there were a couple of movies that almost freaked the hell out of me like The Conjuring and The Place Beyond the Pines, they were intense and very suspenseful, but I enjoyed them. However out of all the films I’ve seen, the latest thriller drama, Prisoners actually succeeded in filling my mind with insane suspense and gritty moments, thanks to its intelligently crafted premise, great acting, and filled with heart pounding suspense and gritty violence, this movie pretty much makes The Purge look like The Hangover.

            The film stars Hugh Jackman (X-Men franchise, Les Miserables) and Terrence Howard (Iron Man, Hustle and Flow, Red Tails) as two fathers whose families are celebrating Thanksgiving together, everything seems to be going fine, until their six and seven-year-old daughters are seen playing on a creepy old RV, with only minutes to spare, the two of them are abducted by a deranged kidnapper (Paul Dano). So it’s up to their dads and a reluctant detective (Jake Gyllenhaal-Jarhead, Brothers, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time) to find them and put this insane psychopath in custody, in a series of twisted surprises and gritty moments.

            Prisoners, while graphic at times is very entertaining and filled with suspense and often frightening scenes involving child abduction, torture, and twisted surprises around every corner. Besides gripping thrills and a good story arc, the film’s cast is very enjoyable to watch especially Jackman, Gyllenhaal, and Howard, other than the main trio, Oscar® winner, Viola Davis (The Help), Maria Bello (A History of Violence, Thank You For Smoking, Sin City), and Melissa Leo (Homicide: The Movie, The Fighter, Oblivion) co-star in the movie, and they all do outstanding jobs portraying their characters.

            The movie isn’t exactly super violent, despite the fact I said it was an intense flick. Even though it gets pretty gritty at times, the film’s also emotionally dramatic, which can be very intense, especially in a movie like this.

The drama and intense moments are all done very well, with some very good writing and superior acting by the cast, you can really feel the pain the characters are going through. It’s truly something that will grab your attention the minute the film begins and most likely leave you satisfied and a tad disturbed by the time it’s done, believe me I was almost breathless at the end of the movie, so that’s got to mean something. 

Riddick review

RIDDICK:

EXPLODING WITH GUT-WRENCHING VIOLENCE, MENACING CREATURES, AND SPECIAL EFFECTS!

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** out of 4

UNIVERSAL PICTURES

Vin Diesel battling an alien monster in Riddick

            Vin Diesel (The Fast and the Furious franchise, xXx) is back in action as escaped convict, Richard B. Riddick in the third installment of the Riddick franchise, simply titled Riddick, and while the film’s title is as basic as it can get, the movie itself is definitely an improvement over the last Riddick sequel from 2004, The Chronicles of Riddick. Unlike The Chronicles of Riddick, Riddick 3 reverts back to the Pitch Black style, with R-rated gruesome violence, very frightening monsters, and some impressive special effects.

            Accompanying Diesel in the new Riddick flick are Karl Urban (The Lord of the Rings 2 and 3, Star Trek 1 and 2, RED) reprising his role from The Chronicles of Riddick, Vaako, Jordi Molla (Knight and Day, The Alamo, Elizabeth: The Golden Age), Katee Sackhoff (Battlestar Galactica, Halloween: Resurrection, White Noise 2: The Light), Matt Nable as Boss Johns, and an entire cast of alien monsters.

            Some time after the events of The Chronicles of Riddick, we find Richard B. Riddick (Diesel) left for dead on a sun-scorched planet that seems to be lifeless. And once again, Riddick is being pursued by a group of bounty hunters who want to catch him, dead or alive.

            Suddenly Riddick finds himself fighting for survival against alien predators that are more lethal and dangerous than any human being. The only way he can survive is to activate an emergency beacon to alert a group of mercenaries who rapidly descend to the planet in search for Riddick.

            The Merc ship that arrives carries a new breed of Mercenary soldiers who are more lethal and violent than any other mercenary, captained by a man with a personal pursuit of Riddick. With time running out and an intense storm coming over the horizon, Riddick’s hunters won’t leave the planet without his head in a box.

            The new Riddick movie is definitely an improvement over The Chronicles of Riddick and it’s definitely up there with its predecessor, Pitch Black. It’s loaded with extreme violence, thrilling action, badass aliens, and awesome special effects.

            Riddick, for the most part is very entertaining, but it does have a couple of problems, one is the plot is very simple and basic, I would have liked to see the plot being explored a little better, with more backstories on how Riddick ended up on the planet or the story behind the alien creatures, those are the two things I think would make the film a little stronger. Also, the movie lacked in character development, a lot of the characters are pretty forgettable, except for Riddick, Johns, Johns’ religious son, and a very badass Mercenary girl, everyone else is just sort of there to be attacked by the monsters, but that’s been an issue with Pitch Black, so I can cut it a little bit of slack.

            If you’re a fan of the previous Riddick movies, you’ll feel right at home with the new movie, more Vin Diesel action and gore for you. But if you’re a newcomer who is very curious about the movie, don’t come here and rent Pitch Black and The Chronicles of Riddick before you see this.

Oh, and PS, if you do see this movie, I hope you’re not “Afraid of the Dark!”