Ed's Review Dot Com

Allison Shearmur Productions, Keep Your Head, Lionsgate,

Emma Roberts, Dave Franco, Juliette Lewis, Emily Meade, Miles Heizer, Kimiko Glenn, Samira Wiley, Marc John Jefferies

Vee (Emma Roberts) is a high school senior, and a shy wallflower type of girl. Her best friend, Sydney (Emily Meade) is outgoing and very popular, although she is hiding her own problems. Sydney introduces Vee to a new underground app called Nerve which is like Truth or Dare without the truth option. When joining the app, you choose to be a watcher or a player. By embarrassing Vee, she dares her into becoming a player, but once you start you cannot quit, and things escalate quickly as the dares grow more and more insane. This is a high action thriller right out of the pages of today’s social media world.

This was a very refreshing story, very modernistic, and quite suspenseful. Eama Roberts and Dave Franco are awesome as a team and Emma is really turning into a daredevil here. (Watch the special features on the DVD to see her experiences filming this.) The rest of the cast is very good as well. The action scenes are very well done and the special effects are awesome. All in all, this is a really spectacular film, filled with really good characters doing really crazy and dangerous things for fame and money, just like real life! The script is excellent. I would love to find the book, it seems like a really good read. The director team did a splendid job as well, and all the performers are really good, so this this is a solid film, and one I can recommend. See it.

Regency Enterprises, New Regency Pictures, Escape Artists,

Sienna Miller, Dave Franco, Tom Wilkinson, James Marsden, Nick Frost, Vince Vaughn

Dan Trunkman (Vince Vaughn) is a business executive who suddenly finds himself out of a job. His plan is to go out on his own and try to start his own company. Sales are hard but he has the opportunity to get the largest sale of his life, but he has to travel to Europe to get it. He makes two new friends, one old guy Tim (Tom Wilkinson) who’s being forced to retire against his will and a young go-getter with no experience at all who had arrived looking for a job when Dan hires him. His name is Mike Pancake (James Marsden) and the three of them head off on the road to try to make the sale at all costs. But the competition is fierce.

This movie is a bit of a dud. It had promise, but fell into the trap of using all the cliches that have been done over and over. James Marsden is the highlight of the film, if there is one. The comedy just doesn’t seem to get off the ground, and I am not really sure where to place the blame. The script certainly isn’t very good, but I’m not sure if the writing is the problem or if it just wasn’t put together too well. There are a few gags that are pretty funny, and I have always enjoyed Vince Vaughn, but this is not one of his better films. I certainly was able to get through it ok, and as I said, there were a few pretty good exchanges, but for the most part I just didn’t really get involved in the story. This is one I would suggesting passing by I’m sorry to say. I wanted it to be better.

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Good Universe, Point Grey Pictures,

Seth Rogen, Zac Efron, Rose Byrne, Dave Franco, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Lisa Kudrow, Craig Roberts, Ike Barinholtz, Jake Johnson, Hannibal Buress, Carla Gallo, Halston Sage

Mac (Seth Rogen) and Kelly Radner (Rose Byrne) are a newlywed couple with a daughter. They live in a simple suburban home. The house next door is up for sale, and they take a lot of interest to see who the new neighbors will be, but when the guys from the fraternity move in and turn it into a frat house led by fraternity president Teddy Sanders (Zac Efron), things go from bad to worse to worst. They party all night, with loud music that keep everyone awake. At first Mac and Kelly try to be friendly with the boys and try to party with them to make friends and get their cooperation, but when that fails, they start escalating a war with the frat that spirals WAY out of control.

This is a hilarious comedy reminiscent of the old great comedies of long ago. It’s modern and fresh, and unique twist, but the gags run from slapstick to up to date technology gags that are right out of the pages of today’s college kids. To make it even more enjoyable, I have a bit of a story to tell.

We went up for Mother’s Day to UC Santa Barbara. My daughter had to work for a while, so my wife and I went to the theater closest to the school to watch a movie. The timing was wrong for everything else, but Neighbors was coming on at 8:15, so we chose it. We figured a Seth Rogen film would be a few laughs. The theater ended up packed, every seat full, all 20ish college kids. We were the only old people in the theater. Since I work in the IT field, I am up to date on new technology and so I got the jokes. But the frat jokes in particular, especially with the way things are today with the latest web sites and communication devices was especially funny to the young people because they obviously got all the jokes. I imagined watching this back at home in a theater full of adults with many of the jokes just going over their heads. Not this crowd. It was really interesting to see which gags cracked them up and compare to what it would be like seeing this without the theater filled with students. Anyway, needless to say, unlike the teens we often see at home, with the theater packed, the crowd was very respectful, quiet with no one texting or making phone calls and laughing at the right places. Though we were crowded, it was a really enjoyable experience.

Now back to the film. This is the kind of role that fits Seth Rogen perfectly. He plays the kid who’s grown up now and realizing that he needs to take some responsibility, but dropping back into his youth to party with the frat and play childish pranks trying to outdo each other. New parents have the problem of their close friends from the past living a wild and free single lifestyle when they have a child and a job and too much to do. The frat house next door, though a curse, also is a chance to step back into their younger days. The comedy is really good, the jokes are non-stop, and it’s a randy adult comedy that doesn’t let up. I really enjoyed this film and recommend it for comedy fans everywhere.

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Summit Entertainment, K/O Paper Products, SOIXAN7E QUIN5E,

Morgan Freeman, Isla Fisher, Mark Ruffalo, Dave Franco, Woody Harrelson, Michael Caine, Jesse Eisenberg, Mélanie Laurent, Common, Elias Koteas, David Warshofsky, J. LaRose, Caitriona Balfe

Four mediocre break out magicians, J. Daniel Atlas (Jesse Eisenberg), Merrit McKinney (Woody Harrelson), Henley Reeves (Isla Fisher) and Jack Wilder (Dave Franco) {thought he looked a bit familiar–he’s the baby brother of James Franco) are suddenly give an invitation to a mysterious meeting. When they arrive, they find out they are all going to work together to become the worlds greatest magic act, The Four Horsemen. A year later, in Las Vegas, they successfully pull off a robbery of a bank in Paris using a random guys selected from the audience, and give the money to the folks in the audience. FBI Agent Dylan Rhodes (Mark Ruffalo) is partnered with Alma Day (Melanie Laurent), an Interpol Agent, to try to figure out how they did it, and how they can be charged with the crime. They call on Thaddeus Bradley (Morgan Freeman) a famous magician who learned he could make even more money debunking the fraud magicians rather than performing magic himself, who helps them figure out and explain the performances. But as time goes by the action gets more intense, and the more they think they know, the more they find out that they don’t know anything. This turns in to a masterful cat and mouse chase as things escalate to an amazing finale.

This was a really exciting movie. I enjoyed this one very much. The tricks they did were masterfully pulled off, and there are so many twists and turns and red herrings, that you really are not even sure what’s real and what isn’t. I kept thinking I had it all figured out in time to find out I knew nothing either. This is a fast paced film, that leaves you breathless as they barely escape time after time. Nothing is what it seems, and as in any good magic show, we, the audience, are fooled time and time again. The performances are really well done. With this magnificent cast, how could it be any less than wonderful? A great story, with a lot of action and speed, as well as some really well thought out diversions. I highly recommend this movie! I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it.

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Columbia Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), Relativity Media,

Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum, Brie Larson, Dave Franco, Rob Riggle, DeRay Davis, Ice Cube, Dax Flame, Chris Parnell, Ellie Kemper

Young underachieving cops, Schmidt and Jenko (Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum) are screwups on the force, and end up wrecking a huge undercover operation, so as punishment are sent to a “special” squad that has then going back to high school to bust up a drug operation. Naturally anything that can go wrong, does. They soon realize that times have changed since they were in school in this homage to the original 1980’s TV show of the same name.

There are a lot of poeple who LOVE this movie. It didn’t completely blow me away. But there are some really funny parts. Now keep in mind that I have never seen the TV show, so I have no background at all to work from. This is probably why I was not blown away. Then main characters were really good. Channing and Jonah were very good and remind me of a “Farrelly Brothers” version of Miami Vice which is probably what the show was going for. Ice Cube was funny as their leader. All in all there is a lot to like, but it would be a lot better if you have familiarity with the original work. As a stand alone film, without the upgrade of the original TV show, it’s a really decent comedy. So it’s worth watching, whether or not you are going to get the connection of the original film.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog