Category Archives: Movies

Zootopia: You Can Be Anything You Want

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Life’s a little bit messy. We all make mistakes. No matter what type of animal you are, change starts with you. 

My mistake was waiting so long to post this one. Sorry about that, but hey, change starts with me!

I normally find it to be in bad taste when I don’t come up with my own title for a movie review. The whole reason I started doing that was to force myself to try and think of something catchy and original (even if they wind up being dull and played out). So why did I renege on that pledge for a film featuring a plethora of furry animals? To put it simply, I think that Zootopia summed itself up better than I ever could. And what is it, you may ask?

It’s another astonishingly thoughtful and finely crafted animated movie from Disney, with characters that adults will connect with more than their kids.

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Whiskey Tango Foxtrot: A Different Side of Tina Fey

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I always admire actors who are willing to try something new. The ones who are determined to showcase a different layer of their abilities and connect with audiences in a genre that they aren’t known for. Will Ferrell in Stranger than Fiction. Jim Carrey in The Truman Show. Steve Carell in Dan in Real Life. Comedic actors in particular seem to be keen to prove that they aren’t just good for a laugh and secretly have a plethora of emotions that are just waiting to be unleashed.

Tina Fey has also thrown her name into that hat before, and while Whiskey Tango Foxtrot doesn’t always provide the smoothest platform for her performance, it is this writer’s opinion that there’s more to Fey than just comedy. It’s just a shame that it doesn’t take place in a more focused movie.

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Insurgent: About as Creative as this Title

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I should begin by saying that I wasn’t in the greatest state of mind when I watched Insurgent. It was an emotional weekend for my family and my girlfriend was sick as a dog, so it’s not like I was all cheery and rosy, the kind of mood you should be in before you fire up Insurgent in your blu-ray player. Or your DVD player. Okay, fine, on Netflix. Damn kids and your streaming.

The problem with Divergent was not with its entertainment value, but its inability to separate itself from other entries into the dystopian young adult genre. Apparently, Insurgent didn’t learn anything from its predecessor and is perfectly okay with being the sequel we all knew was coming. If you’ve seen The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, you’ve seen this movie. A much more enthralling and engaging version of this movie, and therein lies our issue.

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Divergent: More Young Adults in the Apocalypse

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Ever since The Hunger Games burst onto the scene back in 2012, one of the new trends in Hollywood is to adapt any and every dystopian young adult novel into a movie. Something about post-apocalyptic tales of teenage angst and romance just screams dollar signs. The Maze Runner, The 5th Wave and of course Divergent are the most notable attempts to cash in on this genre.  

The challenge, of course, becomes how well do these movies stand out from each other? Can they carve their own path and be successful or do they just shamelessly rip off The Hunger Games? I can’t speak for Maze Runner or 5th Wave since I haven’t seen them, but reviews suggest that they may be uninspired.

As for Divergent, the third one in the series comes out tomorrow, with part 2 of the finale due out next year. Splitting the adaptation of the last book in a trilogy into two parts is another Hollywood trend that I wish they’d stop, but I digress.

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Olympus Has Fallen: Wait, Did I Read that Right?

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You did. This is not to be confused with London Has Fallen, the sequel to this movie that was released today. There are a lot of sequels coming out in 2016, so I thought it would be fun to take a look back and review some of these older movies in these franchises.

And in essence, that’s what Olympus Has Fallen is at its core: FUN. Here we have a silly, noisy action movie that is surprisingly gripping. My girlfriend suggested that we watch it and was totally into it.

Me: So this is basically Die Hard at the White House, right?

Her: I guess? I never saw Die Hard. 

Oh boy. There may be a series of retro reviews coming your way later this year.

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Eddie the Eagle: As Familiar as a Cold Glass of a Milk

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One of the old adages of life is that everyone loves an underdog. Underdogs like fellow underdogs. Normal people like underdogs. Talented, privileged people? They turn their nose up at inferior beings initially, but ultimately the underdog wins their respect. At least that’s what I’ve learned from every feel-good story that’s been released over the past 25 years or so.

Eddie the Eagle feels right at home with the rest of those underdog tales because it is one. While it won’t win any points for originality, the story of Eddie Edwards won me over because of the performances by Taron Egerton and Hugh Jackman and because I always appreciate a feel-good story that’s done right. Even if I feel like I’ve seen it before.   Continue reading →

Why the Oscars Need Leo More than Leo Needs an Oscar

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Leonardo Dicaprio’s quest for an elusive Academy Award has become somewhat of a running gag. Despite turning in one great performance after another and being nominated for an Oscar on a number of occasions, Leo always gets robbed by the Academy. It’s gotten to the point where this is a real conversation that takes place between Kevin and I.

Me: I’m finally seeing The Revenant today.

Kevin: Which one is that again?

Me: Leo’s newest Oscar snub.

Sad, I know. But you know what, it doesn’t matter if Leo gets overlooked yet again on Sunday for the recognition he rightfully deserves. Hit the jump to find out why.  Continue reading →

Deadpool: About Time Someone Got it Right

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Remember back in 2009 when comic book fans were thrilled that Deadpool was finally going to be in a movie? And then that movie turned out to be X-Men Origins: Wolverine and we all died a little on the inside? But then Ryan Reynolds said we were going to get an actual Deadpool movie and we all backed away from the ledge a little bit?

Well that was almost seven years ago. I was beginning to lose hope that they would ever do the “Merc with a Mouth” justice on the big screen. Even when Deadpool was FINALLY greenlit and Reynolds was all excited about how it was turning out and the trailer looked very promising, I was still pessimistic. This is the 20th Century Fox after all, who just released this abomination last summer. And movies that loiter in development hell for that long rarely turn out to be good.

So how was Deadpool? Well, in short it was… huh. So THAT’S what it’s like to see the perfect Deadpool movie. Radical.

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How to Be Single: The Guide to Independent Misery

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I know what you’re thinking. A week has passed since Valentine’s Day and still no Deadpool review. “But Pegboards loves comic book movies,” you say, “so what gives?” Alright, I said that so you didn’t have to.

The truth is I haven’t seen Deadpool yet. I don’t know if Kevin has seen it yet because I haven’t asked him. What I do know is that when your girlfriend asks you to go see a chick flick with her, you put on a smile and secretly hope that it’s actually good so that you don’t have to pretend that you liked it.

So how did How to Be Single turn out? Well, after the movie, my girlfriend asked me if I liked it and when I said yes, she smirked and said, “You don’t have to lie, but thanks for putting up with it.”

Full spoilers follow.

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Kung Fu Panda 3: If It Ain’t Broke, Please Don’t Try and Fix It

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Sequels in Hollywood are a dime a dozen. For every original idea that gets adapted into a feature length film, we get 20 sequels or spinoffs based on existing properties. It’s easier to go with what worked before rather than come up with something new. Unsurprisingly, this approach fails as often as it succeeds, particularly in animation (Shrek the Third, Cars 2 and Minions all come to mind).

I’m happy to report that this isn’t the case with Kung Fu Panda 3. While it won’t make you forget about Toy Story 3 any time soon, it completes one of the better animated trilogies of our time. It all feels very familiar, but that’s okay.

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