Game Night

First Hit: This film was funny from the get go and I laughed out loud all the way through.

I haven’t played games in years, so I didn’t relate to Max and Annie’s (Jason Bateman and Rachel McAdams respectively) way of life.

Every week they hold game night with their friends Ryan (Billy Magnussen), Kevin (Lamorne Morris), and his wife Michelle (Kylie Bunbury). They meet up at Max and Annie's house to play all sorts of games.

Each week, Ryan would bring a different girl which was part of the joke with the group because they all must look the same and they aren’t very smart.

Annie and Max's neighbor Gary (Jesse Plemons) , who is a policeman with a very hardened personality. He and his wife participated in game nights but since they divorced, Max and Annie don’t invite him and find odd and funny excuses to not invite him to game night.

When Max’s brother Brooks (Kyle Chandler) shows up, Brooks invites the group over to his house for game night. However, he has a plan that they are going to solve a kidnapping that is being put on by a company Brooks’ knows.

Unbeknownst to the group, Brooks has been a crook most his life and is wanted by The Bulgarian (Michael C. Hall). The Bulgarian’s men stage a kidnapping just before the fake kidnapping but the game night group doesn’t know the difference.

This mix up causes some very funny scenes and mix-ups which make this film work.

There is enough farce and realism in this film to make it work and I found that the funniest parts and segments had Rachel McAdams in them.

Bateman was excellent as the competitive husband Max. His reverence for the games and love for his wife Annie was well balanced. McAdams was the star of this film in that her quips and way of expressing her determination and fearlessness in an amusing way was perfect. Magnussen was very good as the guy who was mostly clueless to his women preferences. Sharon Horgan as Sarah, Ryan’s girlfriend for the big game night, was perfect. She was smart and showed determination to see the events through. Plemons was perfect as the really strange policeman neighbor who was pining for his wife. Chandler was strong as the jealous brother who over compensated by living large. Morris was great, especially when he was quizzing his wife about the movie star his wife slept with. Bunbury was excellent as Morris’ wife. She showed her strength and love in a very believable way. Hall was perfect as The Bulgarian. He was appropriately ruthless. Mark Perez wrote an excellent funny script. John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein did a good job of directing this ensemble cast to elicit a funny film.

Overall:  This film was definitely worth the price of admission.

The Gift

First Hit:  The audience has moments of being shocked and the point of the film, impact of bullying, is well made.

The set-up is that a couple has moved from Chicago to LA. Simon (Jason Bateman) because of a new job opportunity and Robyn (Rebecca Hall) because as a designer she can work from anywhere and that they lost a baby while in Chicago.

The story and script try to have you believe that she’s gets too anxious and may be struggling and as the film moves on, you find out differently. The seed for the story heading a different way from the setup is Gordo (Joel Edgerton) a hold high school buddy of Simons.

There is tension during each interaction and as it builds the actual reasons for the tension become known towards the film’s ending. The misdirection is handled fairly well and the script (by Edgerton) is filled with hanging truths.

Bateman is really good as being the man who wants to take care of his wife and does this a little too strongly. Hall is excellent as portraying a level of dependency to her husband, but also with and empathy and compassion for Gordo to inquire why he is the way he is. Edgerton is really strong as the affected man who continues to deal with the events of his high school days. He carries and expresses the burdens he obtained from his earlier years very well. Edgerton wrote a strong script and did a good job of directing the actors, including himself.

Overall:  I enjoyed suspense created in this film and appreciated the point of the film about bullying even more. 

Horrible Bosses 2

First Hit:  Although there were some funny bits, it lacked being a full on comedy.

The three main characters Nick (Jason Bateman), Kurt (Jason Sudeikis), and Dale (Charlie Day) are opening their own business with a product for the shower.

The whole storyline around this and their interaction is, for the most part, not funny. They try funny bits; like demonstrating their product on TV, breaking into a house and stealing some nitrous oxide; but they aren’t funny at all. There is very little that's funny about the bits these three do together. However the funny parts is when they bring other characters into the fold.

Chris Pine as Rex the son of the owner of a large distribution company. Christoph Waltz as Bert the successful owner of the distribution company. Kevin Spacey as Dave the old imprisoned boss they wanted to kill. Jamie Foxx as Dean “MF” Jones, their criminal friend who gives them guidance.

And last but not least, Jennifer Aniston as Dr. Julie Harris and sex addicted dentist. Each of these other characters bring in dialogue and aliveness that make the audience laugh-out-loud. However in the end, the film is dead on arrival.

Bateman looks bored in the role. He’s supposed to be the smart steady one and he's this character to the detriment of the film. Sudeikis tries to be lively  and funny as the sex starved guy, but again the role and dialogue is old before it comes out of his mouth. Day as Dale the family man, is dull and unintelligent and ads little to the film. However, Pine is dynamic, over the top, and great as the son who wants more from his dad than he has. Waltz is oddly funny as the guy who puts his business and money over the welfare of his son (Pine). Foxx is intensely funny as the bad-ass friend of the crew. Spacey is intimidatingly intense as the imprisoned scruple-less boss. Aniston is great as the sex starved dentist. Watching her spit out her desires of what she wants to do with the men is precious. Sean Anders and John Morris wrote an unfunny story for the main characters while livening up the dialogue for the other characters. Anders didn’t do a very good job of writing and directing this comedy.

Overall:  This has to be the last of this series – it would only get worse if they try.

This Is Where I Leave You

First Hit:  Moments of brilliance with moments of negating over the top behavior.

The Altman  family gathers together because the father has died. Hillary (Jane Fonda) is the widow and her 4 children come to pay their respects to their father. She states that their father wanted the children to sit 7 days of Shiva. Reluctantly the children sit in chairs that are too low to the floor and begin the process of relating to each other again.

This could have been a more powerful story with comedy woven in, however the behavior of the adult children, especially youngest son Phillip (Adam Driver), turned me off to what could have been a more compelling story. Scenes where he turns up the baby monitor, in front of all the guests, to hear his brother and sister-in-law have sex at their father’s Shiva was tasteless.

Yes, it was supposed to be funny but it came off as insensitive. Then there were the physical fight scenes – where the brothers were in fisticuffs with each other over petty stuff – just seemed to be more than needed. However, there were also great touching scenes of both the comedic and sensitive nature.

Sister Wendy (Tina Fey) hitting her brother Judd’s (Jason Bateman) former boss Wade (Dax Shepard) because he slept with Judd’s wife was priceless. Just as was the scene of the brothers smoking the pot left in their father’s jacket while in a classroom at the Jewish temple – very funny, revealing and a true family and brotherly like moment.

Bateman was effective as the guy who has lived a very controlled precise predictable life and has had it turned upside down. His character change to someone that is willing to add a bit of complication in his life was very good. Fey was adorable as the sister among 3 very different brothers. She held her own both based on the role as well as her acting strength. Corey Stoll (as oldest brother Paul) was very good. He definitely had the older responsible, stay with the family business attitude down. Driver was good, but I didn’t like the script for him. It made him seem both dumb and ridiculous and he was really neither. Rose Byrne (Penny Moore) as Bateman’s old childhood friend was fantastic. I would have liked more of her in the film. Fonda was a hit. She really had me each time she was on the screen. I’ve loved her since the 1960’s (Cat Ballou – 1965 – where I first enjoyed her dramatic and comedic turns). Shepard was strong as the affected self-absorbed Disc Jockey. Jonathan Tropper wrote an occasionally strong and often misguided script. Shawn Levy didn’t seem to have a really clear direction as to what he wanted: Drama with great laughs or a comedy with some high-school like behavior out of adults while dealing with a serious subject.

Overall:  This film had glimpses and the possibility of being much better than it ended up being.

Disconnect

First Hit:  A very good, interesting, powerful film about how our digital connections, and how we use them, can damage our lives.

This is a film about three stories: A son attempting suicide because of a picture of him nude was posted on the internet. Another about young kids who’ve runaway from home and make a living selling themselves for private sex over the internet. And, finally a couple whose personal tragedy grew to include identification theft, but this difficulty helped them grow closer together.

Each of these stories was based in today’s reality. The point of these stories was how technology creates new ways for us to communicate and do it poorly.

Rich and Lydia Boyd (Jason Bateman and Hope Davis respectively) have a daughter Abby (Haley Ramm) who is popular at school while her brother Ben (Jonah Bobo) is a loner who loves music and keeps to himself both at school and at home. Two boys, using technology, decide to harass Ben. They make up a girl that likes him and encourage him to do something stupid. A television interviewer wants to expose young kids selling sex over the internet. By getting more involved creates complications for both the person she’s trying to help and herself.

Derek and Cindy Hull (Alexander Skarsgard and Paula Patton respectively) have just lost a young son and turn to internet activities to soothe their pain, her a chat room, him online gambling. Their identity gets stolen and now they are losing everything except themselves. T

wo of the three stories are interwoven with Mike Dixon (Frank Grillo) who is a former cop who has turned to internet sleuthing and remedy.

Bateman is great as a father who loves his son but has gotten so involved with work; he lost his family connection and tries to get it back. Davis is strong as the mom who is trying to get her husband to pay attention to the family. Ramm is good as Ben’s sister, a brother she loves but is also embarrassed by his awkwardness. Bobo is fantastic as the boy who is so scared of showing up and lives within the world of his music. Skarsgard is really good as the father who has lost a child and doesn’t know how to reach out to his hurting wife. Patton is fantastic as the hurting mother who is looking for a way to find emotional relief. Grillo is very good as the single parent trying to do right by his son. Colin Ford as Grillo’s son did a superb job of showing his angst, sorrow and fear for his actions. Andrea Riseborough was really good as the reporter knowing she wanted to help but also wanting a story. Max Thieriot was fabulous as the young kid just finding his own way. Andrew Stern wrote an outstanding script. Henry Alex Rubin directed this three story film with precision and wonder.

Overall:  This was a really good film and deserves to be seen by a lot of people who don’t get how technology has changed our lives.