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Pain & Gain (2013)
Pain & Gain (2013)
Michael Bay took a true story about bodybuilding thieves and kidnappers, and chewed it up and spit it out bigger and better than before. The producer and director has a tendency to go big or go home. Pain & Gain went huge with a super sized Mark Wahlberg, a bulkier Dwayne Johnson “The Rock”, and an extra beefed up Anthony Mackie.
I should not have enjoyed this movie, but I did. It is supposedly a true story, but you have to believe that with Michael Bay involved, the film could very well be far from the truth. Everything about the movie was way over-the-top.
The movie was raunchy, vulgar, and went totally off the deep end. It’s filled with drugs, cussing, nudity, and brutality. I was caught off guard at how funny the movie was though. I expected an action/adventure and I got an action/comedy. The story is pretty twisted and it needed a lot of comedy to help you get through it, so kudos to the filmmakers for recognizing this fact. The real story was probably not that funny. The real story was probably not that entertaining either.
If you are not a fan of dark comedy, then you might not like this movie. It is mostly filled with dark comedy and stupid comedy. After all, all brawn and no brains is the underlined theme of this film. The movie could also be considered very offensive. If you are easily offended, you might not like the film.
The rest of the notable cast includes Tony Shalhoub, Ed Harris, Rob Corddry, Bar Paly, Rebel Wilson, Ken Jeong, Michael Risponi, Larry Hankin, Tony Plana, and Peter Stormare.
The characters were far out, but very well-acted. The casting was perfect. I don’t think that you could find a funnier bunch of giants anywhere. With that being said, if this movie had a different cast, it probably would have just been awful. I am certain that the actual people that the characters are based on are not nearly as likable as the actors who play them in the movie.
With how big Mark Wahlberg is now, if he could go back in time and fight his character in The Fighter (2010), he would beat the crap out of that guy. He gained 40lbs. to make Pain & Gain and he looks gigantic. Dwayne Johnson “The Rock” somehow became more enormous for his role. It just goes to show the dedication that these guys had to make the movie.
I rate this movie a 7 on a scale of 1-10.
Buy, rent, or run? Rent.
If you liked Pain & Gain, then you will most likely enjoy:
The Hangover Part III (2013)
The Hangover Part III (2013)
The boys are at it again. They’re back for another go-round. Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis, Ed Helms, and Justin Bartha all return for more hilarious antics.
Nobody is getting married this time, but with this group, things always have a way of spiraling out of control.
Todd Phillips returns again to write and direct. Ken Jeong, Jeffrey Tambor, Heather Graham, Mike Epps, Sasha Barrese, and Gillian Vigman are all back along with the addition of John Goodman and Melissa McCarthy.
Most sequels to any movie usually can never be as good as the original. There are a few exceptions, and it is always a very welcome surprise when it happens. But, this rarely ever occurs. With that said, I went into this movie hoping that it would be as good as Part II, if not better.
This movie was not quite as formulaic as I expected it to be. Although it was a bit predictable at times, they had a few surprises thrown in and it was not exactly like the first two films.
The type of comedy was different throughout the majority of the movie. This film seemed to tone down the raunchy humor and substitute it for more obvious, subtle, or dark humor. Instead of being so outrageous and over-the-top all of the time like the first two films, this movie concentrated a little bit more on the events in the story taking place.
Cooper, Galifianakis, and Helms were all just as comical as they were in the first two films. The rest of the returning cast is also just as good as they were in the first movies.
Goodman and McCarthy are both great additions to the movie.
If you are a fan of the first two Hangover films, than you will surely enjoy this third movie. I liked this movie just as much as Part II. It did not top the original, but The Hangover Part III is a worthy final chapter of the Wolf Pack saga.
I rate this movie an 8 on a scale of 1-10.
Buy, rent, or run? Buy.
Trailer for Rapture-Palooza (2013)
Rapture-Palooza (2013)
The movie is a comedy about the end of the world brought on by the devil. A couple of friends join together to try to save the world by defeating the antichrist.
The movie looks a little Zombieland (2009) -esque, at least in the comedy sense. But, I’m sure it won’t be anywhere near as funny or as clever as that film.
Rapture-Palooza is directed by Paul Middleditch and stars Anna Kendrick, Craig Robinson, Ken Jeong, Rob Corddry, John Francis Daley, Thomas Lennon, Tyler Labine, Rob Huebel, and Ana Gasteyer.
I’m not gonna rush out to the theatre to see this one, but I’ll probably catch it when it comes to DVD.
The movie is set to release on 6/7/13.
Trailer for The Hangover Part III (2013)
The Hangover Part III (2013) (click on the title for my full review)
Here is the first look at the teaser trailer for The Hangover Part III. It supposedly all ends with this third piece of the trilogy.
Hollywood loves sequels. They want to see how much money they can squeeze out of basically one story. Honestly I am pretty fed up with sequels, but a movie like this is guaranteed to have moments of uncontrollable laughter. The Hangover (2009) was hilarious. The Hangover Part II (2011) was really funny, but not as good as the original. I have a feeling that The Hangover Part III will probably be about as good as Part II. Maybe we will be pleasantly surprised and it will be better than the original, but for the most part with few exceptions, the original is always the best and the sequels never add up.
Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis, Ed Helms, and Justin Bartha are all back again for another go round. Ken Jeong, Heather Graham, Sasha Barrese, Jeffrey Tambor, Mike Tyson, and many more from the first two parts are back again along with the addition of John Goodman.
Hollywood is sure to rake in a lot of cash once again, and I’m sure there will be some laughs along the way.
The movie is set to release on Memorial Day, 5/27/13.
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