Man Up (2015)

Man Up (2015)

7/10

Starring

Simon Pegg

Lake Bell

Directed by Ben Palmer

Man Up is one of those nice, cool movies you probably won’t hear about. I came across it while looking for something to watch this weekend, and seeing Simon Pegg on the cover inspired me to give it a try.

It delivers. The fun thing about this movie is the cast. The two leads, Simon Pegg and Lake Bell, couldn’t be more perfectly matched for this movie. Their chemistry is engaging, and it makes you want to fall in love and never be afraid to take a chance on it.
As far as romantic comedies go, this one is wonderful. Funny, witty, and all-around cool is what Man Up delivers.

Every romantic comedy shows you the guy and the girl and how they hook up. The path to the hookup is something we’re all too familiar with, since there’s nothing new under the sun. When watching movies like this, you expect things to go the same way but wonder how it would be if they didn’t. Well, this movie decides to follow the same path as others but throws in twists and turns in the areas we want them to, leaving you wondering, How are these guys going to end up together now?

Well, they do.

With wonderful directing by Ben Palmer, this British movie stars an English man and an American lady, where the lady has to put on an English accent. Lake Bell did well with her accent, but I wonder why they didn’t just cast an English actress. I guess the casting director knew something about how these two would look on screen—well done, sir, because they looked great.

The movie’s plot is straightforward and simple. Nancy (Lake Bell) is 34 and lonely, giving up on love and just going through the motions. Jack (Simon Pegg) is 40 and lonely, struggling to cope with his divorce after his wife left him for his friend.

Jack is off to a blind date, while Nancy is just out and about after meeting a lady on a train who left her book behind for Nancy. Nancy is standing at the spot holding the book, which Jack and the woman he’s supposed to meet decided would be how they recognize each other.

Jack approaches Nancy, thinking she’s his date, and rushes her off on their date without giving her room to explain. Well, she plays along until midway through their date when she finally owns up.

Want a rom-com for you and your lover to kick back and watch this weekend? Go see Man Up. You’ll be glad you did.

Straight Outta Compton (2015)

Straight Outta Compton (2015)

7/10

Starring

O'Shea Jackson, Jr.

Corey Hawkins

Jason Mitchell

Paul Giamatti

Directed by F. Gary Gray

Straight Outta Compton is straight-out great. The movie serves as a historical reference for how gangsta rap came to be.

I’ve never been much of a rap/hip-hop fan, and by the time N.W.A was dropping hits, I was too young to listen to them. But no music lover can say they haven’t heard of the great lyricist Ice Cube or one of the best producers out there, Dr. Dre. So, not being old enough to have experienced what N.W.A was all about didn’t stop me from enjoying this movie.

Other than being a combined life story of five men who chose to sing about what they saw daily on the streets of Compton rather than pretend it wasn’t happening, the movie delivers in terms of fun and entertainment. Although the group is made up of Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, Ice Cube, DJ Yella, and MC Ren, to be honest, the movie mainly focuses on the lives of Eazy-E, Ice Cube, and Dr. Dre. I guess the others didn’t have as much impact on the music scene as these three.

The movie delivers some hard blows, as we get to see our stars at their most vulnerable. It seemed like Ice Cube had his head screwed on right at all times—not wanting to be taken advantage of by anyone and choosing to be alone rather than be anybody’s fool. That mindset paid off for him in the end.

Directed by F. Gary Gray, Straight Outta Compton starts with an introduction to the man who made N.W.A happen: Eazy-E. Eazy sold drugs on the street and made enough money from it. One day, he was approached by his friend Dr. Dre to invest in the music business and start a label. Eazy did just that and named it Ruthless Records.

After his first hit song, “Boyz-n-the-Hood”—written by Ice Cube and produced by Dr. Dre—became a hit, N.W.A was formed. With that came their controversial hit song "F@#k tha Police." The group grew and toured around America, selling out concerts.
Ice Cube left the group after feeling cheated by the contract agreement he was asked to sign. This had a huge impact on the group, as Cube was their primary writer.

Cube went on to become a successful solo artist. Dr. Dre also left the group when he discovered the contract he signed was one-sided, favoring Eazy. Years later, Eazy found out he, too, was being screwed over by his partner, Jerry Heller. This led to their breakup, and Eazy began working on reuniting N.W.A before tragedy struck.

If you haven’t seen Straight Outta Compton, you should.

Fantastic Four (2015)

Fantastic Four (2015)

3/10

Starring

Miles Teller

Michael B. Jordan

Kate Mara

Jamie Bell

Toby Kebbell

Directed by Josh Trank

Finally, I got to see this movie.

We all need to see this movie in the freest possible way there is. This movie is so weird (weird as in you’ll be amazed by what’s going on) that it shouldn’t pass your freebie radar. It’s not worth a dime of your money.

You have to be very alert to watch this movie because the lines will bore you, and the events are so well-spaced out that you can easily get lost.

The movie starts with young Reed Richards trying to build a teleportation machine in junior high. We get to see him and Ben Grimm bond over the experiment, which eventually works. Then the movie jumps to senior high, where the two meet Sue Storm, who happens to be like an adopted sister (or maybe real—I didn’t quite catch that part) of Johnny Storm.

Sue, Johnny, and their father, along with Victor Doom, have been working on a teleportation machine of their own. The only thing missing is some key technology to make it work perfectly—a technology Reed Richards happens to have.

Now, imagine this: I had to sit through a 90-minute movie (that felt way longer) and wait until 15 minutes before the end for anything action-related to actually happen.

Here’s what led to it: the group travels through the teleportation machine to another dimension (Sue stays behind on Earth to monitor the trip). Things go wrong, and—ta-da!—we get Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Human Torch, The Thing, and Doctor Doom.

It felt like never-ending talking, and the whole story shift will make you wonder if you were actually watching Fantastic Four.

I think this was a quick reboot, and Fantastic Four doesn’t deserve to be treated like this. Fox, not wanting to lose the rights to this franchise, has actually lost tens of millions to keep it for a few more years. It reminds me of Punisher and Ghost Rider. The first parts of those movies were good, but when they were nearing the date of return to Marvel, Lionsgate decided to try and keep the franchises. They ended up throwing money away.

If you watch this movie, you’ll love the first two Fantastic Four movies Fox did back in 2005 and 2007. In fact, those movies are masterpieces compared to this one.

Well, this box office bomb and universally panned movie is one to avoid. The movie is like a total joke, and the biggest joke is that Fox had (and still could have) a sequel in mind. For any studio to put money into this movie is like setting millions of dollars on fire. Josh Trank (the director) did everything he could to distance himself from this movie—that’s how crappy it is.

Spielberg is counting down the time when all this superhero craze in movies and series will come to a close—a countdown many don’t share… but we all know it’s coming.