Synopsis: The friendly-but-forgetful blue tang fish reunites with her loved ones, and everyone learns a few things about the true meaning of family along the way.
Release Date: June 17. 2016
Thoughts: It’s hard to believe that Disney/PIXAR’s Finding Nemo is 12 years old. And it’s equally hard to believe that for as successful as that film was, its sequel took so very long to get swimming. Perhaps the wait will be well worth it when Finding Dory is released next summer. This first look showcases the same rich colors and vibrant animation that made the original such a sight to see…even more so when it was re-released in 3D a few years back. Plot details are scarce but you can bet that considering the studio and players, it will be an emotionally resonant underwater adventure. With the voices of Ellen DeGeneres, Diane Keaton (And So It Goes), Ed O’Neill (Entourage), Albert Brooks (A Most Violent Year), Idris Elba (Prometheus), Ty Burrell (The Skeleton Twins), & Dominic West (John Carter).
Synopsis: Having both coincidentally cheated death on the same day, estranged twins reunite with the possibility of mending their relationship.
Stars: Bill Hader, Kristen Wiig, Luke Wilson, Ty Burrell
Director: Craig Johnson
Rated: R
Running Length: 93 minutes
TMMM Score: (5/10)
Review: I blame Saturday Night Live for not liking The Skeleton Twins more. I mean, stars Bill Hader (The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Them) and Kristen Wiig (Friends with Kids, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty) should shoulder most of the responsibility for the film feeling like an extended sketch from the tail end of the long-running late night show but it’s easier for me as a fan of both to just blame the show that brought them national attention.
As much as I know I should, it’s hard to separate out Hader and Wiig from being comedians and allow them the opportunity to sink their teeth into this familial drama about two twins brought together after a suicide attempt. Surprisingly (said with the utmost sarcasm) there are a lot of outstanding family issues that need to be settled and, wouldn’t you know it, over the course of the film they all seem to get dealt with in one way or another in director Craig Johnson’s hum drum script he co-wrote with Mark Heyman. From a visit with their absentee mother (an all too brief appearance by Joanna Gleason) to Hader’s reunion with his first love (Ty Burrell, Muppets Most Wanted) to Wiig’s ongoing issues with her husband (a surprisingly strong Luke Wilson) this is one of those kitchen sink movies where everything gets thrown in just to make sure no dramatic stone is left unturned.
When Hader and Wiig are apart, both actors turn in some impressive work that shows of their dramatic chops nicely. Hader especially has some nice moments as he comes to grips with his life not being in any shape or form what he intended it to be. It’s when the two are together in extended sequences involving lyp-syncing Starship’s “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now”, getting high on laughing gas, and dressing up for Halloween that I started to feel like these were scenes from the very late night writing sessions Saturday Night Live is historically known for. These goofball moments could have worked in a different film with a less somber tone but here they don’t fit with the rest of what Johnson has set-up.
Still, it’s a short ride and one that does go by quickly even with some fairly major bumps. And it should be noted that it’s a huge improvement over Wiig’s last attempt at a dramadey, the dreadful Girl Most Likely. A complicated film made more so by Wiig and Hader’s chemistry that reads more collegiate than familial, The Skeleton Twins doesn’t have enough meat on its bones to make much of an impression.
Synopsis: While on a grand world tour, The Muppets find themselves wrapped into an European jewel-heist caper headed by a Kermit the Frog look-alike and his dastardly sidekick.
Stars: Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Gonzo, Animal, Ricky Gervais, Ty Burrell, Tina Fey
Review: The release of The Muppets in 2011 represented a new start for the felt character franchise that had seen its share of ups and downs during its history spanning over three decades. Though I found that film to be fun overall, I felt that it wasn’t as Muppet-centered as it could be, focusing too much time and attention on the human stars (Jason Segel and Amy Adams, American Hustle) instead of the characters so many of us grew up with.
Wisely, Walt Disney Studios (which now owned the trademark for Jim Henson’s creations) wasn’t above retooling their reboot and righted some of the past wrongs with this much better sequel that keeps the puppets front and center were they belong while keeping the humans at bay on the sidelines. Original director Jams Bobin is back as are screenwriter Nicholas Stoller (The Five-Year Engagement, Neighbors) and songwriter Bret McKenzie (who won an Oscar for “Man or Muppet” and then went on to star in the awful Austenland) and all seem to be on better footing this time around.
If the first film was more akin to The Muppet Movie from 1979 then Muppets Most Wanted could be compared (favorably) to 1981’s The Great Muppet Caper. Picking up literally where the first one left off, Kermit, Miss Piggy, Fozzie, Gonzo, and the rest of their comrades are sweet-talked into capitalizing on their popular resurgence and going on a world tour. Trouble is, the man behind the tour is Dominic Badguy (Ricky Gervais, almost as intolerable as Segel was in the previous film) and he’s in cahoots with a criminal mastermind named Constantine. Recently escaped from a Siberain gulag, he looks an awful lot like Kermit though he sounds like a amphibian Borat.
This leads to a switcheroo landing Kermit back in the gulag and Constantine using the world tour to steal pieces to a puzzle that will help him to snatch the crown jewels. Along the way there are musical numbers, a sizable amount of cameos (none of which I’ll spoil here), and quite possibly a long-overdue wedding that I thought had happened in a previous film.
The voices and talents behind The Muppets are beyond reproach (kudos Steve Whitmire, Bill Barretta, Matt Vogel, David Rudman, Eric Jacobson, Dave Goelz) so let’s focus on the flesh and blood stars that are getting in on the Muppet action. As mentioned previously, Gervais is a lot to handle and the film features far too many close-ups of his fang-y mug…though a song and dance number that finds Constantine tap dancing on his head provides a hearty chuckle. Tiny Fey (Admission) has a thin singing voice and an even thinner Russian accent as the gulag grand dame that takes a shine to Kermit. Ty Burrell plays a Jacques Clouseu-esque detective always ready to go on break…the jokes here get repetitive and old pretty quickly.
McKenzie’s songs are better than the original with several of them landing squarely on target. Though he stumbles out of the gate with the obvious “We’re Doing a Sequel” he lands a one-two punch of the Barry White-like disco seduction “I’ll Get What You Want (Cockatoo In Malibu)” and the fun “Interrogation Song” delivered with rap panache by Burrell and Sam the Eagle.
Though it runs ever slightly too long at 112 minutes and lacks the free spirit charm that came with the first trio of adventures to hit the big screen, Muppets Most Wanted is a marked improvement on every level from the previous entry…even though the new Muppet, Walter, is still featured too prominently. It can’t be a coincidence that those early films were the entries that Jim Henson was most involved with and that kind of vibrancy is hard to duplicate…but this one inches closer to that pleasant territory.
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Synopsis: While on a grand world tour, the Muppets find themselves wrapped into an European jewel-heist caper headed by a Kermit lookalike and his dastardly sidekick.
Release Date: March 21, 2014
Thoughts: The Muppets never go out of style so it’s nice to see that a sequel was created to follow-up on 2011’s pleasant but not very ground-breaking attempt to re-boot our fuzzy felt friends. It’s hard to put a finger on exactly why that movie didn’t play as well as it should have – I think it’s because the presence of Jason Segal and Amy Adams overshadowed the true stars of the show a bit too much. I’m excited that the sequel seems more Muppet focused in an old-school sorta way with stars popping up in cameos and a few familiar faces taking on supporting roles. We have to wait until spring of 2014 to go on another spree with the Muppets and this teaser is a nice glimpse at what we can expect.
Synopsis: In small-town Iowa, an adopted girl discovers her talent for butter carving and finds herself pitted against an ambitious local woman in their town’s annual contest.
Release Date: October 5, 2012
Thoughts: Count me in the ‘intrigued’ category for this dark satire on politics and butter carving. The trailer makes the film look like it could be the sequel to Drop Dead Gorgeous with its backstabbing and cat fighting within a competition. Sitting on the shelf for over a year doesn’t bode well for reviews…still I had heard this was one of the better darkly comic films for those that had seen it. With the political climate heating up it’s probably wise that the Weinstein Company sat on this until now. The cast is impressive, even if for every name I went ‘ooooo’ for there was another I rolled my eyes at.
