Movie Review: The Hangover 2 (starring Bradley Cooper and Ed Helms)

You know how bad you feel when you have a hangover?  And then you promise yourself you're never going to drink that much again?  And then you go out the next weekend and drink that much again?  That's what this movie is like - if you woke up the second weekend with Mike Tyson's face tattoo.  It's "The Hangover" on speed - each joke is raunchier, funnier, and more outlandish than before.  I laughed the whole way through (when I wasn't cringing, that is).

The story starts with Stu (Ed Helms) planning to get married ... in Thailand (or Thigh-land as Zach Galifianakis continuously calls it).  He tells Phil (Bradley Cooper) and Doug that he just wants a Bachelor Brunch at IHOP to make sure nothing messes up his wedding this time, but he'd really like them both to come to the wedding.  Of course, they eventually invite Alan (Galifianakis) to complete the wolf pack.  I think these set up scenes are among the funniest in the movie. You get the feeling that Galifianakis is ad-libbing about half of his lines and they're hilarious. I'm assuming the gag reel on the DVD will be as long as the movie.

Anyway, they get to Thailand and soon realize how much Stu's father-in-law hates him (Stu already knew it). But hey, at least they're at a great resort and no one's going to get roofied while drinking a beer out by a campfire or anything, right?  And they aren't going to wake up in a dirty Bangkok hotel with Stu's brother-in-law missing, right?  OK, I'm kidding.  All of that happens.  And that's when we get the awesome phone call from Phil to Doug's wife saying, "Uhh, we really $#@#ed up this time ..."  I must say that the whole audience cracked up at that scene.

The rest of the movie proceeds exactly like you expect.  And if there's a criticism of the movie it's that it's too much like the first one. At points I caught myself thinking "Is this "The Hangover I"?"  But when director Todd Phillips hits the accelerator he really mashes it down.  This movie isn't for the faint of heart - I think my wife had nightmares last night - but it sure is hilarious, and you get what you paid for ... another hangover that's even worse than the first one.  I left thinking "There's no way I want to see that again" but then we met up with some friends and started talking the hilarious scenes and .... I have a sneaking suspicion that if there's a Hangover 3 (let's be honest - there were three "Crank" movies ... Hangover 3 is as certain as Galifianakis prancing around in his underwear at every appearance) I'll be right there ordering shots, totally forgetting the pounding headache from the last time. :)

What did you think?  Have you seen it yet?  Are you planning to see it?  Not enough male nudity for you? Do you think you'll see it again?

American Idol Guest Blogger: Taylor takes on Scotty!!

So you may have noticed that I've kind of lost interest in American Idol as the season progressed.  To me, the characters were wooden, the judges were lame, and the whole show just got boring.  So now that it's over for this year, I couldn't bring myself to write about it at all.  BUT - my wife enjoyed the season and (as you'll soon see) had strong opinions about it.  So without further ado, welcome my first guest blogger ... TAYLOR!!!!

OK, I've needed an entire 24 hours to pass before I could talk about it...

[sigh] Scotty is a nice kid, but he's not worthy of the AI title. Period. I knew he won it when they showed live shots from their hometowns - Scotty's fans FILLED an ENTIRE STADIUM!!! Obviously I don't see (and most importantly, HEAR) what those fans see. ON THE BRIGHT SIDE, the show had to know that he's been leading the voting probably since day one so they knew to make the rest of the show AWESOME & kept the crowning until the very end and didn't really focus on it!! I LOVE BEYONCE!!! And how about JLo shaking it like nobody's business??!!?? Oh, and Tim McGraw -- I was hoping Faith would join Lauren, but Carrie was great. Interesting how I like the sound of Lauren better than Carrie, but Lauren can't hit the notes Mrs. Underwood can. Come on Lauren, you can be a star if you'll go for it! And she's only 16!!!

The only way the show could have been better [minus the OBVIOUS fact that Scotty won] would have been to have Celine and Pia sing together! Wouldn't that have been TV worthy? [Observation: Scotty & Pia lack personality. Scotty brilliantly displayed that when he won.] Yikes, strong feelings from Taylor.

Another thought - these judges created an incredible cast for us to watch. Even though I think their criticisms could have been more pointed [wait a second, did they criticize?] the judges did a great job selecting the top 20 or however many there were.

Will I allow Scotty's win to stop me from watching next season??? That is the question...the answer: If JLo stays on, I'll watch!

Movie Review: Fast Five (starring Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, and The Rock)

So what can I say about this movie?  It's terrible, but in an awesome way.  Or it's awesome, but in a terrible way.  I guess the best way to put it is this: when you go to Chuck E. Cheese, you don't expect to eat prime sirloin.  So as long as you go into the movie expecting it to be what it is, then it comes through - big time.  Just a warning: I'm going to talk about the plot a little bit, and I'm not going to put in Spoiler Alerts each time because, if it's possible to spoil this plot for you, you probably haven't seen a movie ever in your life (hint: it's predictable).

Here's the gist of the plot (stop me if you've heard it before): Diesel is a convicted felon (but a lovable convicted felon), and Walker is his old nemesis who is now dating (married to?) his sister. They steal some cars, go to Brazil (why Brazil? who knows!), steal some more cars, drive really fast, get in fights, drive even faster, and take down the evil overlord of Rio - by planning to steal his safe full of money.  Of course, this requires the fastest driving of all.  Oh yeah, Diesel took acting lessons from Batman - his voice is so low and hoarse that most of his lines come out like sounding like Mumbles from Dick Tracy (I know, mixed metaphors are bad).

I could probably write forever about this movie, but to be succinct, I'm going to break it down into the FIVE most ridiculous scenes.

1.  Cliff Diving:  While escaping with stolen cars (these guys are felons, remember), our heroes drive off a cliff approximately 3 miles high.  No problem - there's a river at the bottom of the canyon so they just get out of their seat belts and pretend they're cliff diving, landing softly in the water.

2.  The Rock:  Everything about his is ridiculous about him in this movie (which means he's awesome). He's as muscled up as his WWE days and either has a sweating problem or they continually hosed him with oil and most of his lines could be delivered by Ivan Drago.

3.  Safe Pulling:  There's an extended scene where a massive safe is pulled by cars. Let's just say Terminator 3 was more realistic than this whole scene (that's not a compliment, Vin).

4.  Vin Diesel's height: In one scene he looks The Rock in the eyes (Rock is 6' 4"), then in other scenes he's not close to as tall as Paul Walker (listed at 6' 1").  Is it embarrassing to film a scene standing on a box?

5.  Inconsistent US Law Enforcement: In one scene, the Rock and his troops are confronted by dozens of thugs with drawn weapons. Of course, he calmly pulls out his pistol and a mean look and the thugs all back down.  BUT in another scene, he bursts in with drawn weapons and when Diesel's friends draw theirs ("This is BRAZIL!!!") the Rock backs his troops down.  So confusing.  What kind of training are these fake federal agents getting these days?

There's so much more ridiculosity - in fact, it's almost as much fun to talk about it as watch it just for the wild scenes.  And it seems like this is a viable movie franchise that could make 10 more movies - they've moved beyond racing movies and crafted a heist franchise, kind of a poor man's Ocean's Eleven.  They may be terrible and dumb but they're just so awesome!

So what did you think?  Are you looking forward to Fast 6: Lubbock Dirt Roads?  Did it need more cars? more fighting?

The Lincoln Lawyer (starring Matthew McConaughey and Marisa Tomei)

The Story:  Matthew McConaughey plays Mick Haller, a defense lawyer who uses the back seat of a Lincoln for his office (not that way - his actual working office!). I'm not really sure why that's important in this movie, but at least they don't make a huge deal out of it. I guess it keep overhead down. His clients are the usual guys that defense lawyers get - motorcycle thugs, junkies, other people who probably commit crimes in their sleep. However, when he gets Louis Roulet (Ryan Phillippe) as a client, things start to get weird. Roulet is your typical movie version of a spoiled rich kid, and he's accused of killing a prostitute. But there are a lot of similarities between this crime and one he defended years ago, where he convinced a client to take a plea deal in exchange for avoiding the death penalty. The twists and turns come as Haller tries to determine whether his client is guilty, and what to do about it if he is.  Marisa Tomei plays his ex-wife, although she really doesn't have anything to do here.

The Pros:

• McConaughey - he's in his element here, playing a cocky, slow talking lawyer.  Hugh Grant is the only other actor who is so good at one type of role that you almost don't mind him doing the same thing in each movie. If you like McConaughey, you'll love this movie.
• Phillippe - he's not a good actor, but he plays the spoiled rich kid so well that you have to wonder how much he's actually acting ...
• The plot - it's entertaining and has twists and turns while not being overly complicated

The Cons:

• William H. Macy - remember when we thought this guy could headline a movie? I've always liked him, but it seems those days are long gone. He's only a bit player here.
• Movie Advertising - They made a big deal out of the star power in this film, when Marisa Tomei doesn't really have role, and William H. Macy is a bit player.  At the same time, the title character (the Lincoln car) only has a couple of scenes. Lies, lies lies!! 

The Final Grade: A-.  Basically if you liked "A Time To Kill" you'll like this movie. As long as you're looking for an entertaining way to spend a couple hours, this movie is the perfect choice.