Inside Out

First Hit:  The film was conceptually brilliant, for the most part very well executed, and very intelligent.

There probably isn’t a human being on this planet who hasn’t experienced one or all of the following; fear, anger, sadness, disgust, and joy.

Given this, Pixar did what no other filmmaker has ever done well, create an interpretation of the inner workings of the mind and made them the film’s main characters. Riley (Voice by Kaitlyn Dias) and her family moved from Minnesota to San Francisco where she feels lost, without her friends, familiar surroundings, furniture, and her dad is stressing about a company he’s creating. The comfort of what once was is now gone and changing.

This change allows other feelings, besides joy, to have a larger voice in her head. What results is what happened in this 12 year old’s mind. This film is brilliant in the sharing how the other emotions of fear, anger, joy, disgust and most importantly sadness can creep into a young person’s life. The lesson of not covering up, but embracing them and working through them is well done and on point.

The only downside of the film for me is that joy spends too much time wandering around the inner recesses of the brain. This film could have cut out 10 minutes and been more effective. Lastly, because the film is only 94 minutes, Disney/Pixar felt compelled to run a short called Lava prior to this film. Lava was an extremely poor setup to Inside Out. Lava, as a lead-in was way too schmaltzy and sappy and hurt watching the beginning of Inside Out.

Amy Poehler as Joy was perfectly upbeat and single-minded. Phyllis Smith as Sadness was dead on perfect. Her ability to apologize and yet continue to create more sadness was amazing. Bill Hader as Fear was funny, his expressions we’re well thought through. Mindy Kaling as Disgust was good in this more minor role. Lewis Black as Anger was the funniest. The way he would be immediately triggered because of an event was perfect. Dias as Riley was very good, especially when she was introducing herself to her new classmates. Pete Docter and Ronaldo Del Carmen both wrote and directed this excellent animated film. The only downside was the amount of time spent wandering around long term memory.

Overall:  This was an excellent film and provided a way to know how the brain could work.

Ted 2

First Hit:  Some very funny laugh out-loud moments along with crude and sophomoric scenes.

This film was much like the first with John (Mark Wahlberg) and Ted (voice by Seth MacFarlane) being best friends, doing drugs (mostly pot), and acting like they are frat brothers.

However, Ted decides that he’s in love and marries Tami-Lynn (Jessica Barth). Donny (Giovanni Ribisi) still has a grudge (from the first film) that Ted belongs to John. He decides to hatch a plan to have Ted declared “property” and not a human. The case goes to court.

Along the way, we have lots of cameos including Jay Leno, Liam Neeson, Michael Dorn and Sam Jones in roles that personified characters they’ve played. The crude language was more than required to make it funny but there are lots of humorous situations.

Wahlberg was OK at John but I actually like him better in more serious roles. Barth is perfect as Ted’s wife and made her role work. Ribisi is always great in his slightly perverted role. Amanda Seyfried as Samantha, Teds lawyer, was a great counterpoint. Morgan Freeman playing a civil right attorney Patrick Meighan was a typical role for him and even Ted made fun of his perfect voice. Seth MacFarlane and Alec Sulkin wrote the script, which, for the most part worked. MacFarlane also directed the film.

Overall:  It was funny but film becomes forgettable by the next day.

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

First Hit:  I was deeply touched by the story, quality of acting, and the full range of emotions I felt while watching.

Greg (Thomas Mann) has a poor view of himself. He’s a senior and has figured out a way to be both invisible and part of every group at school (we all remember the different groups in high school). His being associated with each group is at the level where he can say "hi" to each, but he’s not directly associated with that group to everyone else, so he has no up or down sides in these relationships. His association or non-association allows him to basically disappear from everyone.

His long term friend Earl (RJ Cyler) and he make films and each lunch together everyday in his sociology teacher's office, where they watch old films. The films he and Earl make are funny parodies of famous films (like Creature from the Blue Bathroom). When the camera pans across the titles of the film cartridges – the effect is hilarious and the audience gets to learn more about Greg and Earl with each title they have.

Greg’s parents are a hoot as well. His dad hangs around the house all day in odd outfits trying different kinds of foods. His mom inspects all his communication devices and leaves Greg feeling as if he has no privacy or control of his life - he feels smothered. Greg also is an amazing and funny monologist. Him mom tells him that one of his classmates has leukemia and wants him to visit her.

Although he complains he’s not friends with Rachel (Olivia Cooke) he reluctantly goes to visit her. Their friendship grows during her months of chemotherapy which drives Earl and Greg attempt to make a film for Rachel. One thing I wanted to see more of, was Rachel's ability to cut books – when you get to the end of the film, you’ll know what I mean – fascinating.

Mann was amazing. His ability to make his long monologues natural and revealing was divine. Cyler, although his role was smaller, was strikingly present in his scenes. Thoroughly enjoyed his character. Cooke was very strong and the revelations of her character as she progressed through chemo-therapy were great. Jesse Andrews wrote an amazing script (especially for Mann). Alfonso Gomez-Rejon captured the feeling of the characters with his inimitable direction.

Overall:  This film may not get seen by a lot of people and it definitely is one of the best films in the first six months of this year.

Dope

First Hit:  An interesting, well executed, thoughtful, coming of age film.

As a coming of age film, this was very good. It worked because the characters are fun, interesting and unique.

As a geek Malcom (Shameik Moore) hangs out with two other geeks Jib (Tony Revolori) and Diggy (Kiersey Clemons). Together they have a band and play music as an escape from "The Bottoms", a harsh, tough and hard hitting neighborhood in Inglewood, CA where they live.

To navigate their senior year, they try to keep a low profile while applying to college. However, trying to not get harassed by the local drug dealers and thugs,  Malcom gets involved with a particular drug dealer and a young lady. This involvement creates and unforeseen and unfortunate circumstance requiring he use his intelligence and wit to sell someone else's drugs through the internet. How does this help? It might get him into Harvard.

Moore is amazing in this role. His command of the story is wonderful. Revolori is strong as his friend and bass player. He's funny and supportive. Clemons is fantastic as his lesbian drummer and dear friend. Rick Famuyiwa wrote and directed this excellent film.

Overall:  This was an excellent film in that it delivered the story with joy, heartache, and style.

Spy

First Hit:  It was pretty funny at times and walked a nice line between slapstick and heart.

Susan Cooper (Melissa McCarthy) plays a desk-bound, behind the scenes CIA agent, who gets a chance to go out into the field. Because she is unknown by the person they are attempting to track, and her inexperience in the field, there are numerous opportunities for awkward comedic situations.

Her CIA counterparts Rick Ford (Jason Statham) and Bradley Fine (Jude Law) play their roles straight which adds to the situational and physical comedy.

McCarthy was the best I’ve seen her. Her comedy here wasn’t as pressed as it was in an earlier film, Bridesmaids, and showed more variability and vulnerability in her character. Jason Statham was like most all the roles he plays in other films – very intense and single-minded. Jude Law was fine in his James Bondish sort of way. Paul Feig wrote and directed this film and it worked.

Overall:  I liked this much better than I had thought I would because I hadn’t been much of a fan of the films McCarthy's been in.