Sausage Party

Cartoons for adults have popped up more and more in recent years with TV shows like BoJack Horseman, Rick and Morty and Archer being really popular examples, so it makes sense that that popularity should spill over into movies. And who better to make such a movie than Seth Rogen and his crew of comedy friends. At first glance, the trailer makes Sausage Party look like the same old movie from these guys, but it is actually really funny and original.

The day in a supermarket begins with all the items singing a song about "The Great Beyond", a magical place where you go when one of the gods (humans) buys you and you can live in harmony with them. Frank (Seth Rogen) and his girlfriend Brenda (Kristen Wiig) are excited to be picked because of "Red, White and Blue Day" and they know that they will finally be together. Everything is going okay, until Honey Mustard (Danny McBride), who has returned from "The Great Beyond" and knows the truth, is put in the cart. He attempts suicide and as a result a whole bunch of items are thrown from the cart, including Frank, Brenda, Sammy Bagel, Jr (Edward Norton), Kareem Abdul Lavosh (David Krumholtz) and Douche (Nick Kroll). In the mess that results, Douche is severely injured (his nozzle is bent) and makes it his mission to take his revenge on Frank who just wants to get back to his shelf.

With all those characters, especially Douche, it sounds like Sausage Party is just filled with childish, infantile jokes that would only appeal to teenage boys. But it actually has a lot of jokes that go beyond that. A large chunk of the movie is dedicated to relationship between Kareem Abdul Lavosh and Sammy Bagel, Jr and is used as an allegory for the current Arab-Israeli situation (the Halal food was in their aisle first, but then the Kosher food just had to start taking over). There's actually a lot of this us and them mentality in the film that mirrors real life, everything from more land disputes (Firewater (Bill Hader) says that the supermarket used to be all Native American before other foods came in and took it away), historical genocides (the sauerkraut wants to eliminate all the juice) and even the blind acceptance of religious belief. It's not all real life, a lot of pop culture is made fun of too. My favourite was when the classic Meat Loaf song "I Would Do Anything For Love" is sung by, well, a meat loaf.

This is what we're doing to bacon? It almost makes me not want to eat it.

The characters in this are so fun to watch because special care has gone into creating nearly every single grocery item (both from a character and animation point of view). All the foods are the nationality that they represent, and while this can make for some cultural stereotypes, it's still pretty funny. Salma Hayek's lesbian taco is a bit too obvious but very fun to see (well, hear) such a big star in this role. The same goes for Edward Norton. I had no idea it was him, I actually thought it was Woody Allen. My favourite character was the villain Douche because his characterisation of a fraternity brother who just wanted to get juiced or jacked the whole time made complete sense. Another favourite was the Stephen Hawking style gum who had his own wheelchair and provided the heroes with vital information.

While Sausage Party is crass and vulgar at times, it's also really original. Who would've thought a movie about grocery items would be funny let alone evocative of history and current events (to be fair, it does gloss over these things). Overall, it's a top notch comedy and it's great to be able to go see how far animation has come without having to go to a movie for kids.

The BFG

Steven Spielberg has a solid filmography of family films, from E.T to Hook, Jurassic Park to Tintin, all of which found commercial success. But Spielberg’s latest release, an adaptation of Roald Dahl’s classic The BFG, seems to be turning into the flop of the summer. But is it deserved?

Sophie (Ruby Barnhill) is a young orphaned insomniac living in a London orphanage that she doesn’t particularly like. One early morning when all else is quiet, she sees a giant lurking about, who snatches her from her bed and takes her off to Giant Country. He introduces himself as the Big Friendly Giant or BFG (Mark Rylance), the runt of the litter and a lot smaller than the other giants. Sophie empathises with him and she helps the BFG devise a plan to get rid of the bullying bigger giants.

The BFG is one of the closer adaptations of Dahl’s work, although Spielberg does much to conceal darker themes in favour of a family friendly PG-release, surprisingly without much detriment to the end result. There’s almost never a dull moment, and whilst a lot of the humour may edge more on the childish side there’s certainly a lot for parents to like. The first two acts in particular carry the story through and explore mystery in such a uniquely Spielbergian way, and the dream catching sequence is probably the most well executed of these moments.

However after the first two acts comes a third chapter that’s more difficult to judge, on the one hand it’s totally true to the book and so should be there, but on the other it just seems so out of place that it takes away from the rest of the film. Perhaps this is an example of Dahl’s bizarre frivolities and Spielberg’s broad-audience mindset clashing. On its own it has merit but it just doesn’t sit well with the rest of the feature.

It’s difficult to fault the acting overall, Mark Rylance (who earned an Oscar for teaming up with Spielberg in last year’s Bridge of Spies) shows his breadth as the BFG and his unique take on language. Ruby Barnhill is enjoyably bossy as Sophie, and Penelope Wilton finds a comic way to play the Queen that doesn’t lean too heavily on caricature. The other giants are also very good and I was surprised to find out that the leader of the group Fleshlumpeater was played by Jemaine Clement. The motion-capture has been meticulously done, and whilst there’s still a noticeable gap between the CGI giants and the rest of the world, it’s never really distracting enough to take you out of the film.

It seems unlikely that The BFG will find the audience that most Spielberg summer blockbusters do, which is sad because whilst it’s far from his best work, it stands above most of the other films that are taking the share in this release period. The BFG is well-acted, often funny and always fun, and whilst it may not be as dark or complex as the novel, it stays true to the intentions and tone of Roald Dahl’s work.

Trainwreck

Judd Apatow's last few movies have been getting a tiny bit more serious than his earlier films. Trainwreck (based on an autobiographical script by comedienne Amy Schumer) straddles a fine line between being a serious and silly comedy.

Amy (Schumer) is taught a valuable lesson by her father Gordon (Colin Quinn) when she is younger: the idea that monogamy is outdated and doesn't work. Flash forward twenty years and Amy still follows this rule, sleeping with as many guys as possible, despite dating gym-junkie Steve (John Cena). Amy works for men's magazine S'nuff and is assigned the job of writing an article about sports doctor Aaron Connors (Bill Hader), with whom she has her first serious relationship. Confused by her feelings, she looks to her younger sister Kim (Brie Larson) for guidance.

Schumer definitely brings her own brand of comedy to the table here. Her TV series Inside Amy Schumer questions the gender pigeonholing that takes place in society and in a way Trainwreck follows suit, although taking a more autobiographical tone and mixing that with Apatow's mass appeal filmmaking. The movie does make a decent attempt to ask why can't women go and sleep with as many guys as they want in the same way men do. However, this attempt only makes up the first third of the film. The remainder seeps into typical rom-com territory, with Amy eventually succumbing to the archetypical female in a romantic comedy. In fact the entire second half of the film is pretty by the book in that regard.

Overall however, the film is pretty funny. Schumer isn't as crass as Melissa McCarthy but finds the right balance of dirty jokes, as well as jokes about her ineptitude with sports (sports being a major part of this movie). The film also has one of the funniest funeral scenes I have seen outside of Death at a Funeral. The film also handles its more tender moments with grace.

The performances are a bit of a mixed bag. Schumer does an okay job at taking the lead role, but the best parts for me were Colin Quinn and basketball player LeBron James. Quinn brings his usual acerbic dry delivery to the role, making Amy's father Gordon a memorable character. James plays against how you think he would be in real life, super protective of his friend Aaron's feelings and a bit of a sensitive soul. British actress Tilda Swinton is extremely unrecognisable as Amy's boss Dianna, all fake tan and hair done up. It's actually quite a remarkable thing to see if you are a fan of her work. Hader isn't at all trying in this film, instead letting Schumer take the limelight. Brie Larson has also done better elsewhere.

There are some great smaller supporting roles and cameos. Mike Birbiglia plays Amy's brother in law who annoys her with his extremely submissive personality. Randall Park hilariously plays one of Amy's colleagues and Ezra Miller is also funny as the office intern. There are some great cameos by Matthew Broderick, as well as Daniel Radcliffe and Marisa Tomei who both appear in a film within a film called The Dogwalker.

Although it could have been better in terms of its structure, Amy Schumer's first foray into feature film writing is pretty funny and enjoyable to watch.

Inside Out

          "Crying helps me slow down and obsess over the weight of life's problems."

A typical, nuclear family dinner scene. The Dad is lost in his own mind as the Mum pries their pubescent Daughter for details about her first day of her new school after a significant, interstate move. The Daughter's been emotionally turbulent since the move, her usual quirky, happiness has been restrained and replaced with insecurity and a lack of confidence. The Mum tries to keep spirits up but the Dad's concentration has been on organising work and the home in the wake of the move has driven a wedge between him and his family. The Daughter proves unresponsive to the Mum's gentle prodding and so she turns to the Dad for backup, but it takes him a moment to assess the situation, and then he responds incorrectly. He overreacts to the Daughter's moody replies and the whole moment climaxes in a shouting stand-off between Dad and Daughter and the Daughter is sent to her room, the Mum is left incredulous. This is a simple and common family situation and is but one of dozens found in the latest Disney/Pixar animated feature film Inside Out. But what makes these moments unique is that this feature dives into the machinations of characters, emotions and choices in these mundane situations. In these scenes, each human characters actions and responses are guided by competing emotions physically represented inside their heads at a control station. The daughters emotions are individual, Sadness, Fear, Joy, Anger and Disgust acting and reacting separately from one another for the most part, and with each of these emotions being characters that have their own depth and personalities their intentions causes them to clash with in turn forces Riley, the person they influence, to react wildly. But in this dinner scene it is apparent that not only do these emotional forces appear in everyone's mind, but Mum and Dad's are more mature and self-assured, they act as a mental committee and even physically appear similar to the actual Mum and Dad, a wonderfully deep and insightful detail.

Cinematic representations of mental illness have in most part been relegated to insane asylums filled with dead-eyed walking vassals for medically-induced vegetation, villains of cartoonishly disassociative identities and violently shattered mental states, or pure unadulterated emotional vulnerability. More often than not accuracy and nuance in regards to mental health is eschewed in favour of bombastic or one-dimensional characterisation but Pixar's Inside Out not only allows for emotional depth on mental health, but actively encourages its audience, primarily parents and children, to assess their own emotions and mental states and to grow as human beings. The film features decent writing for a broad audience, parallel story-lines that really compliment each other, and some impressive voice acting from Amy Poehler and Phyllis Smith as leads Joy and Sadness, and a supporting cast of relative unknowns, a refreshing occurrence for a major animated feature. Director Pete Doctor, who also directed previous Pixar films Up! and Monsters, Inc., claims the story came from viewing his own daughter's responses in similar situations, which certainly accounts for the emotional resonance this film creates.

Inside Out becomes a film about emotional and mental maturity, but makes the case that this can only be achieved through embracing your emotions, positive and negative, and assessing them. It's visually engaging, has real emotional depth and themes though balances this with images and characters more than suitable for young children. While it's arguable that the exact designs of Riley's emotions is disappointing, the overall tone, message and execution of the film makes for highly recommended viewing.

The Skeleton Twins

It's both refreshing, and a rarity to see a comedy that delves into confronting issues for the purpose of enriching the plot, rather than just as an excuse to employ black humour. The Skeleton Twins, the second feature from Craig Johnson, does so with a surprising amount of finesse.

Estranged twins Milo (Bill Hader) and Maggie (Kristen Wiig) are reunited for the first time in ten years when Milo attempts suicide. Maggie, who has also been having suicidal thoughts, suggests that Milo come back with her to New York so that they can catch up. Milo finally meets Maggie's husband, Lance (Luke Wilson) and attempts to rekindle a previous controversial relationship that he had with his high school English teacher (Ty Burrell).

Over the following days, Milo and Maggie open up to one another in a way that only siblings could, conversing about the various problems in their lives, Maggie with her doubts about her marital life, and Milo with his depression and failed acting career. With the can of worms opened, the two find themselves reaching out to restore the relationship that they once had.

Working from a script written by Johnson and Mark Heyman, The Skeleton Twins challenges the superficial structures that make up the majority of contemporary Hollywood comedies by offering a relatable and unwavering glimpse into the toils of these siblings' lives. From time to time, it fails to avoid cheesy scenarios, and rather tiring flatulence jokes, but mostly, this film dodges cliches. However, somewhere in the middle, it began to divide into more and more 'acts' that tried with my patience. It's a shame, as all these anti-climactic moments detract from what the film has to offer. 

Seeing two prominent Saturday Night Live actors performing so well in dramatic leads is quite a joy to behold. Bill Hader and Kristen Wiig both offer up some truly touching performances, drawing on their previous work together to interact as a realistic pair of siblings. Ty Burrell proves his dramatic proficiency as Rich and is certainly one of the film's valuable assets, whilst Luke Wilson brings both hilarity and innocent timidity to his role. A worthy assembly for such a character driven film.

This film is certainly bold in its subject matter and isn't afraid to place importance on drama over comedy when needed. Think the latter half of the M*A*S*H tv series. However I did feel that certain stages in the script could have done with some tightening up. Despite those issues, the poignant depiction of these dysfunctional siblings from Wiig and Hader, transforms this into a movie with plenty of substance.

Monsters University

I was 10 when Monsters, Inc. came out. Twelve years later, I'm studying at university and this movie comes out. It's great how life comes full circle. I should note that I was the oldest person in the theatre watching this (who didn't get dragged along by a child at least).

The story tells of how James P. Sullivan (John Goodman) and Mike Wazowski (Billy Crystal) became best friends at university years before they were the best scare team at Monsters, Inc. Their introduction to each wasn't smooth sailing, however. Whilst they are both in a scare class, they get thrown out of the program by Dean Hardscrabble (Helen Mirren) for having a fight. Together they figure out that they can back into the course by competing in the Scare Games, a group of challenges for fraternities and sororities.

I feel as though this isn't really a kids movie, as the majority of the jokes are aimed at a mature audience but at the same time aren't crass. Charlie Day's (It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia) character, Art, is an obvious stoner type and the film also lampoons the hazing process that takes place in fraternities (there's a great documentary by Todd Philips if you want to know more about that, Frat House). At one stage during the film, the kid behind me started crying.

John Goodman and Billy Crystal were okay in their roles, but since this film takes place earlier than the original film, I thought maybe some younger voices wouldn't have hurt, but since it's only voice acting I don't think anyone would really care.

The other voice cameos are quite a surprise. Apart from the aforementioned Helen Mirren, there is Aubrey Plaza (Parks and Recreation), Alfred Molina (Raiders of the Lost Ark) and Dave Foley (The Kids in the Hall). And of course I get excited when Charlie Day is in anything.

The ending of the film was a bit of let down to me as well. Both Mike and Sully's career within the Monsters, Inc. corporation is crammed into two or three minutes at the end of the film. They could have just left that out all together.

It does kind of bug me that Pixar has so much potential from their roots as innovators for originality, but now I feel as though they're doing the same things over and over (the soon to be released Planes is a perfect example).

Verdict: A decently funny prequel that could have been stronger in terms of story, but will suffice for kids and adults alike.

Also, a bonus if you live in either the UK or Australia (these are the only two countries I know of at present). Prior to the movie actually starting, there is a screening of The Blue Umbrella, a charming love story of two umbrellas that will tug at the heartstrings.