Daddy's Home - Movie Review

Who's In It?

Linda Cardellini, Mark Wahlberg and Will Ferrell

Ted 2 - Movie Review

Who's In It?

Mark Wahlberg, Seth MacFarlane, Amanda Seyfried, and Giovanni Ribisi


What's It About?

A year and six months after the first film, Ted finds out he's not counted as a person by the state and hires Samantha to represent him in his case to become a human.

Any Good?

I absolutely loved Ted 1, it may have been just been a bunch of Seth McFarlane jokes he uses for most things, but I really did like it and Ted 2 is similar.

This movie felt like it only came about because of the opportunistic events going on while it was being made - it referenced heavily on the equal marriage case in America by having the film seem to center mainly on Ted trying to prove that just because he isn't a man his marriage is still valid, but the whole deeper meaning that seemed to come from this was not really expanded on. 

How to watch Ted 2

I love Mark Wahlberg, his parts in Entourage were brilliant and I found him (albeit unintentionally) hilarious in The Happening - and he seems to just work really well with Seth McFarlane. Amanda Seyfried made a good character to counteract the 80s pop-culture references which always drew a reaction from Ted himself. Patrick Warburton and Michael Dorn were great too, playing a gay couple gone to Comic-Con to mess with nerds while dressed as The Tick and Commander Worf.

Although not as good and without the rewatchability of the original, Ted 2 wasn't too bad of a movie to just switch off and watch. While it did have a few recycled Family Guy jokes that went on for too long as the usually do, Liam Neeson's scenes more than make up for that and show that for being a 60+ action star, the man has some serious comedy chops - like in this clip.

Rating: 

The Gambler - Movie Review

Who's In It?

Mark Wahlberg, Michael Kenneth Williams and John Goodman


What's It About?

Marky-Mark is a gambling man with a huge love for losing everything he gets, until his debt is breathing down his neck and must pay off 3 different crime bosses in a week.

Any Good? 

For some reason, this film felt like a cheap knock-off of something better in every aspect, even the soundtrack. Boasting the likes of wannabe-David Bowie, M83 (wannabe MGMT - be honest) and wannabe-Dean Martin sounds, I was less than impressed.

For some reason there was introduction of a lot of unnecessary characters too - while totally important to the plot they still didn't need to be given the amount of explaining they did and this just came off as padding to make the film longer than an hour and a half for me. One brilliant character for me was Frank the crime boss, he came off as totally menacing in a Jabba the Hutt way - which is why I assume they made John Goodman put on so much weight.

John Feelsgoodman.jpg as Frank 

For it's bad script and host of distracting side characters, the mains did their job pretty well. I love John Goodman in everything, which may make this stilted, but he delivered his flowery prose-like lines as gruff as he could, complete with a neck wobble. Michael Kenneth Williams was kinda awesome (he always is), but for some reason he was playing a "chilled" crime lord - one that prefers to say things like "come on man" than "I'm going to murder this ****".

While both too long and too deep (in a filler kind of way), the film is actually worth the watch for the gambling scenes. I found my mind wandering while sitting watching it but as soon as the cards came out I was watching every movement, thinking about the play I would have made, and generally just being exhausted by the tension of a card flipping or roulette spinning. If there was ever a movie to have on while you browse the internet, this would be - it for me.

Rating:  

Lone Survivor - Coming Soon

Not usually one for combat movies, this trailer and the back story for Lone Survivor have really piqued my interest. 

Based on the failed June 28, 2005 mission "Operation Red Wings". Four members of SEAL Team 10 were tasked with the mission to capture or kill notorious Taliban leader Ahmad Shahd. Were you not aware of th background or the outcome of the mission beforehand, the movies title could be seen as a slight spoiler but I, for one, am genuinely looking forward to seeing how it plays out on the big screen. 

Lone Survivor hits Irish cinemas in February 2014.