CHEAP THRILLS

CHEAP THRILLS Review

By Darin Skaggs

     When you think of a family, you think adorable child, a loving mother and a hard working father.  In a traditional sense the father works hard to pay rent, bills and for food for his family.  In E.L. Katz’s new film Cheap Thrills, he takes on the male role in the family system. 

     The story begins with Craig; he has a lovely wife, a new born child and an eviction notice looming over his family’s head.  Before going to work that day he is reminded to ask for a raise at his mechanic job.  And before asking for the raise he is let go, not because he is a bad worker, but merrily because of downsizing.  He then goes to a bar to drink away his sorrows when he sees his old high school friend, Vince.  Vince and him have a conversation about how low they are on money and then met an odd married couple, Colin and Violet.  These two do drugs, are violent and creepy and just pay off the people who are bothered by their antics.  After Craig wins $500 to punch a bouncer and gets knocked out they head back to Colin and Violet’s place where Craig and Vince are offered money for various tasks that get more and more crazy as the night goes on.

     Pat Healy plays the titular Craig and very well.  The casting is strange and very perfect for this film.  Ethan Embry does very well as Vince.  Sara Paxton, who starred with Healy in the previous The Innkeepers, does well as the bored, crazy wife of Colin.  The most interesting bit of casting is David Koechner of Anchorman fame.  He tones it down for the role still being his silly self, but acts like a normal human being that needs to make people do crazy things for money.  All these actors help out the films humor that the filmmaker realized it needed with all the darkness.  This makes it a wonderful dark comedy that is both hilarious and hard to watch.

     At first Craig is reluctant to do any of the tasks.  He does not feel like spanking a strippers butt or doing any drugs because these things are morally wrong.  It actually takes a long while for Craig to get in to the tasks.  He has an internal debate whether doing the right thing is better than doing the wrong and getting paid for it.  When he does though, he goes full throttle.  He starts with craping in the neighbor’s house and goes into many unspeakable acts.  It seems that the film is almost a shorter version of Breaking Bad.  A man needs to do bad acts to raise money for his family.  But how far should he go and how far will he go? 

     The film really does take on that question.  Many moments are hard to watch and we wonder if we would do the same thing to save our family.  It is a truly conflicting film that makes you think how dark life can be and even if you believe you’re a good person you might be just as dark.

HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 2

HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 2 Review

By Darin Skaggs

     Some sequels are carbon copies of the original, saying nothing new, others take on the first one and bring whole new themes and others just sit put not knowing what to do with itself.  Dean DeBlois, who wrote and directed How To Train Your Dragon has now written and directed a part two to the series and sadly is guilty of writing a film that does not know where to take the characters and story.

     The film takes place a few years after the first film.  The Viking community has become a custom to riding dragons.  They make saddles instead in place of weapons.  It is now peaceful, until Hiccup the smart inventor that brought the Vikings and Dragons from the first film, runs into Dragon hunters who work for the big bad guy Drago who has been off training a Dragon army to take over the world.

     It is clear that DeBlois did not know where to take these characters.  Hiccup does go through more than one life changing event but the script just seems to be filling holes from the first film.  Drago is the polar opposite of Hiccup which is an interesting touch but just seems like an add-on.

     The film story wise is mediocre but the action scenes are amazing.  The film opens with a new sport of Dragon racing.  It is a blast to watch.  The action scenes are thrilling, not a dull one in the bunch.  There is a fight between two giant Dragons, a whole mess of Dragons fighting and a few escape scenes that all leave you breathless.

     The film is in no way bad, but is not the kind that will leave much of an impression on you.  The action scenes are a ton of fun but not enough to let you fall in love with this film.  There is one choice the film makes that all other franchises seem to be afraid to do.  That being said How To Train Your Dragon 2 is a decent film that you could probably skip and not be missing out on anything.

22 JUMP STREET

22 JUMP STREET Review

By Darin Skaggs

     Within the last few years a new brand of comedy has become more and more popular, this is Meta humor.  With shows like Community which makes jokes on what fans and critics say about the show or 30 Rock having commentary on the state of NBC, Meta humor is clearly on the rise.  Phil Lord and Christopher Miller’s new sequel 22 Jump Street is a Meta movie all about the state of the sequel with somewhat of a story inside it. 

     The film actually takes the same beats as the first one.  It does not take place in High School, but now in college.  There is a drug circulating this college that Schmidt and Jenko have to stop before it goes big.  They are told to do the same thing as last time and everything will turn out the same.  Like many poor sequels the similar plots say a lot about sequels in general.  The gang is supposed to do the same thing and they will have the same success, but that does not go well for them and makes things more difficult much like if a sequel were to do the same as its predecessor, the audience would be unsatisfied.  Schmidt and Jenko have to go against the grain and try out something different to solve the case.

     The film is full of moments of breaking the fourth wall, almost to the point of being too on the nose.  There are jokes about the budget of the case being doubled and then near the end running out of money.  The film is pretty much beat by beat with the plot of the first film just flipped with characters plot points. This is clearly on purpose.

     While being a great commentary about movie sequels the film also accomplishes being one of the funniest of the year and could possibly be the funniest.  Channing Tatum gets a lot more funny moments like a Meat-Q when Tatum drops his Q-Tip into a fellow football player’s meat sandwich that feels like a Meet Cute.  Hill is hilarious as usual especially with his scenes with Ice Cube.  Others things include a Annie Hall bit with a surprising pay off, a “Who’s On First?” like bit after the big finale and the amazingly dedicated Jump Street franchise bit. 

     The only flaw really in the film is that it is less of a story and more of a take on the sequel.  It is funny and smart enough that it is not really a flaw at all.  If you came for a story you might be disappointed but if you have an opinion on the state of franchises then it will be an enjoyable watch.

X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST

X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST Review

By Darin Skaggs

     The X-Men series has been an interesting one.  There were two solid films with director Brian Singer.  Then the third one which destroyed all that was built up in the series after Singer left.  There were two standalone Wolverine films, the second one almost apologizing for the first and right smack in the middle of that a “reboot” of the series taking place back in the 1960’s with Magneto and Professor X.  This new film, which Singer has returned for, mixes those original characters we used to love with this new world of the past to make a great and maybe the best X-Men movie to date.

     The film takes place about fifty years ahead of our present.  The mutant race is being hunted by these futuristic robots that have similar abilities as the mutants.  Professor X, Magneto, Storm and Wolverine decide to send their mind into the past with the help of other mutants.  Only Wolverine can do it because the journey will tear anyone else to pieces, and of course because he is the star of the show.  He goes back to the 1970’s to change events to save the mutant race.

     The film is a blast, with great character moments and great action pieces, but maybe the true point of this film is to fix what went wrong with the series.  After Singer left the films dropped in quality only to be revived with First Class and the second Wolverine film, so in this one Singer is trying to apologize for leaving and actually fixes what was messed up.  He sends Wolverine back in time to change the past so curtain events would not happen.  It is never said that they are trying to fix the events of X-Men: The Last Stand, but it is hinted at.  It is also more than ever before about the prosecution of “lesser” groups of people, mostly homosexuals, women and minorities.  Because the film takes place in the 1970’s it is very evident because of our Nation’s history that this is what Singer is trying to get across.

     Like most of the films in the series the acting is spectacular.  Hugh Jackman who plays Wolverine is great as always.  Fassbender and McAvoy, who play younger versions of Magneto and Professor X respectively, step up their game from their previous appearance.  There are a lot of great cameos in the film from previous players of the series.  It is a lot of fun to see who they got to come back and makes you happy to think “Oh, this actor just came back for one scene.” 

     It is a lot of fun, but not as much action as the other films.  That is nowhere near a compliant and when there are action sequences it is a blast, like when they break Magneto out of the Pentagon.  The film fulfills the promises made from the first two and makes new ones for future films to come.  It is a lot of fun and may be the greatest X-Men in the whole franchise, probably because it has everything that is great about all of them in one.