The Bad Guys

Was I disappointed? Well, yeah.

Now I partially blame that on myself for misreading the trailer. When I saw the trailer I had hope and I thought, oh cool a movie where bad guys are bad guys but have to undergo training to be good guys in order to pull off a heist. Just a cute fun movie where villains so desperately want to do bad things but go through a rigorous training program to appear good, and funny can commence. Not at all what I got. It's a very by the numbers, basic, mostly predictable kids movie. I will fully admit I haven't seen a Dreamworks animated film since....shit, like Rise Of The Guardians and that was 2012! I honestly thought the studio closed down a while ago cause I just didn't see them attached to any projects. But anyway, the movie follows a group of animals in a strangely mostly human filled world, where they rob banks, do heists, and generally feed into their negative stereotypes. But when a heist goes wrong they fake a, "we'll go good this time pinky promise!", and make a tiny bit of a change before being framed for another crime. Yadda yadda, blah blah, this movie had exactly two twists I didn't fully expect but the rest was...God just so boring and predictable. The animation is really interesting, the backgrounds look painted at times but is a full 3D animated world, at first I thought it was another Spider-Verse style but it's honestly something new to my eyes so fair props to the design choices. The cast does quite good work but the script is what firmly buried this film for me, only getting a few chuckles and bits of intrigue out of me. I certainly wasn't expecting a great film, just a fun little distraction for 90 minutes that I could appreciate for it's merits. But unfortunately even Richard Ayoade couldn't salvage this film. I was having difficulty remembering even the title, I couldn't remember if it was The Good Guys or The Bad Guys and what a perfect summary of the film because I won't remember this in a day. 2 stars, 5/10, I am praying to the higher powers that we at least end on a high note with The Northman.

Ocean's 13

Well I certainly liked it better than the first, but I still feel the second was the best.

Despite Ocean's 13 not being as good as 12, I still have to say it is a decent movie. Once again not going for the straight heist movie, they do something unique again. So, debts have been paid off in the second movie, the crew has been doing good until one of their members Reuben is double crossed and the poor guy suffers a heart attack from it, spurring the crew to not only steal this casino owner's prized diamond collection but sabotage his newly constructed casino. Good story, got your usual heist stuff, but a bit of sabotage too. I mean thank God for this variety, cause let me tell you something if each movie was essentially the first movie all over again, I would have severely lost my fudge man. But they tried to innovate and do a new thing each time, and that must be applauded. And I'm fully with them tearing this casino to shreds cause Al Pacino is an asshole in this movie! I mean yeah, he plays Al Pacino but he is so...just not nice, and it's very gratifying to see him get his comeuppance. And you know what I noticed? The best character of the whole crew is Linus, Matt Damon because he has an arc. From rookie, to kinda knowing the ropes but not fully trusted to do stuff, to truly being a part of the crew and helping out a lot, that's really cool. You could almost argue this is his story, despite the expansive cast. It was just something I noticed, and I thought it was a neat idea. Really, these movies are okay. Competently written, shot, and edited but nothing too special. Which just leads me to wonder, will I enjoy Ocean's 8? It looks decent, but I guess we will find out tomorrow.

Ocean's 12

Alright, I was pleasantly surprised!

After the overwhelming adequate reception of Ocean's 11, I got to say I was really hoping the sequel would be a lot better and it actually was. I think the reason I liked it more is the fact that it wasn't a straight up heist movie. So the crew after 3 months has finally been caught up with the guy they stole all the money from in the first movie and he gives them an ultimatum, garner all his money back and then some or die. So the crew heads over to Europe to try and recover the money before time runs out. Already I liked it much more on a story basis. This movies does so much more than the first, and betters what was already there. The story is interesting with an almost unknown goal as if the crew are just spitballing ideas until they hit their mark, the Coronation Faberge Egg. And I actually liked the characters this time too, they are given much more personality in this movie and are genuinely funny. But we even get a new character, and she was my favorite character by far! Isabel played by the ridiculously great Catherine Zeta-Jones, who has had a past with Rusty and is a good sort of antagonist but not really. This is why she is my favorite, she is the most interesting of the characters. Fully willing to take them all down and yet kind of admiring and helping them too. I don't know, just everything has been done so much better. Now the camera work was really good in the first movie but they get so many better shots in Amsterdam and Rome, just so beautiful with some interesting shots here and there. It really does make me curious as to how this all ends, what awits for me in Ocean's 13. So needless to say I can fully acknowledge this is a better movie and a very good one at that, I almost would say skip the first and just start here. But we got one more before the girls hit the scene so stay tuned tomorrow for Ocean's 13.

Ocean's 11

Well I guess I have Ocean's 8 to blame for me being here.

Well it only took 17 years to finally see this movie, and while you're reeling from that bitter truth let's talk film. Ocean's 11 is an alright movie, I have to admit I have never been for heist movies but a realization occured to me about an hour in this movie. It's not about whether the heist is a success or not, but more for the characters and how the heist was done. You know they're going to walk away with cash from 3 different Vegas casinos, but you want to know how and see these crooks sort of bounce off one another. And I have to say the character's are fine, nothing stands out much beyond the star power. We got a lot of people in this movie, all good actors so the main focus as far as I can guess why you would watch this movie is the heist. And it is interesting how they find ways through the most heavily guarded safe in Vegas, it did intrigue me but I wasn't fully grabbed by it. Hell I made it more entertaining by making a drinking game, and the sad part is it works for every heist movie. Just take a shot anytime either there is a fake out to where you think they have just been caught red handed or when they come withing breathing distance of being caught. You're probably gonna get buzzed good by the end credits. All I can say is I really hope the sequel can grab me and keep me invested. The movie is totally fine, there's no mind breaking amounts of stupid, it's just that these types of films never really appealed to me. And yet the trailer for Ocean's 8 actually got me curious about this whole thing, so go figure. I'd just watch this movie on a lazy day and there is nothing better to watch. Ocean's 12, you got a low bar to pass so here's hoping for tomorrow.

Going In Style

Well I'd say that was worth the wait.

Going In Style is a very good movie, it's a comedy, a heist, and a buddy movie all at the same time. The plot revolves around 3 friends who after working for a steel company for 40 years learns that it's shutting down, and their pensions are being taken away. And that's actually really hard to watch because these things do happen, in this day and age quite often. So they decide screw it, they don't have much to lose, so they decide to rob a bank to provide for them until the end of their days. Casting is great, I mean you got Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, and Alan Arkin, star studded cast if there was one. Comedy is very good, Christopher Lloyd has a small role and I could not stop laughing when he was on screen, I just wasn't expecting to see him so I got a real kick out of that. All in all, it's a funny movie, you want to see these guys succeed and get to live their life in comfort, and I don't think the ending will disappoint you. Well that's it for today. Next week, I don't know. I'll figure something out. It is my birthday soon.....