rjones1325

Who knew a January movie about dogs would be one of the first most controversial films of the year. You know the story. You saw the articles and let me say, I find this all to be nothing more than a sack of crap. Seriously people? You have a heavily edited video from no other than TMZ (who I have no idea why would they be at the production site of A Dog’s Purpose) If you are a dog person, this movie will have you at “aww” from the first frame to the last. As a guy who prefers dogs more than any other pet, it was hard to refrain from easy heartwarming moments and outbursts of “aww.” The film is cute yet manipulative and cheesy without a doubt. But it’s a cute kind of manipulative cheese that just easily cuddles up to your heart no matter how tough you try to be. Similar to owning an actual dog. What is weird about these family films centered on dogs is that you could have it be about anything and it’ll still classify as a PG rated film. Like films such as Shiloh or Max, the film features pretty dark elements revolving around the adults more so than the dog at times. It’s weird too because Bailey’s first owner, Ethan got him by committing a crime. His mom saves this dog from death by breaking into someone's car in broad daylight. You have scenes of crime, death, spousal abuse, death, OH and more DEATH which is conceptually uncomfortable to sit through. One of the lives of Bailey has a tragic ending that you makes you go “damn,” but yet the film plays it so lightly. It just flash cuts to a fluorescent blue stream that leads you to Bailey’s next life while you know that he just died. It has dark elements but plays it with a light tone. It has good intentions introducing Bailey as a different breed of dog with a different owner, but you also want to know what happened to the previous owner after Bailey dies. But then again you probably wouldn’t want to see the depression of a man after a dog’s death. God forbid they show a funeral scene for one of many deaths of Bailey. The theater floor would’ve been flooded with tears if they did. Especially when this, A Dog's Purpose is a family film. FULL REVIEW HERE

Okay here’s a little backstory time for you. I went to a film high school in Queens of New York named Academy for Careers in Television and Film. By that name you probably already guessed it's a film school. Every year with each production class, you had to direct your own project of any given genre. In 10th grade, one of the longest projects you had to work on was suspense where you were to make a horror short film. After every student’s project is complete, the production teachers watch every single one then pick their favorites. Then, they compile all their favorite projects into a compilation disc and call it Best Of. I saw better three-minute projects in my high school’s Best Of than this pile of garbage. FULL REVIEW HERE: rendyreviews.com/movies//the-bye-bye-man-review

Believe it or not, I’ve been anticipating this movie for a loooong time. Whenever you have a movie that was slated for a release date only to get pushed back for years makes me want to see it more. I don’t care what it's about sometimes. I just want to see that specific movie to go with a sarcastic smile, “SO, this is the film the studio didn’t want anybody to see so they waited 20 years to release it? WELL AREN’T WE GOING TO HAVE SOME FUN TODAY!” Movies such as Hoodwink Too, World War Z, The Cabin in the Woods, that Bella Thorne Amityville movie that we were supposed to get a year and a half ago and we’re still waiting for today, and now after long wait, we finally have Monster Trucks. A film that was supposed to come out on the date Mission Impossible 5 was released and then got pushed back to that Christmas and then pushed back again to last March and then pushed back to this year in the beautiful month of January…. For this being the first live action directed by Chris Wedge (director of Ice Age, co-founder of Blue Sky Studios, voice of Scrat) he does a very competent job. For a ridiculous premise that you can’t believe is a feature-length film, Wedges puts effort into these different action sequences. The film does have its moments of imagination and creativity. As much as I am tired of car chase sequences in recent films, this features a car chase that is both fun and exciting. Surprisingly it wasn’t the one in the climax, but one in the second act.I recently learn that the concept of this film came from at the mind of a four-year-old. It’s not the first time a young child created a concept that became something. The webcomic turned TV series Axe Cop was made from the mind of a 5-year-old. And to be honest, I really like Axe Cop so I can’t really be cynical towards this. Despite all the good things I said about this film, it is nonetheless an incredibly flawed film. Monster Trucks would be the best Nickelodeon film ever made if it was released in 1997 after their release of Good Burger. But since this is 2017 there’s not another way to describe this other than another generic live action Nickelodeon movie. At least we know why Lucas Till died in X-Men Apocalypse. It was because he was making this film. Okay that isn't true since this was filmed in 2014 a year before Apocalypse started filming. As charismatic as they are Till and Levy are terribly miscast. It’s weird because nearly every Nickelodeon film has to have a central character in high school, but in this, you could tell they did not give a crap. If you thought Andrew Garfield looked too old to be a high school when he was Peter Parker, Till looks near like a pedophile amongst the teenagers in his high school. For God's sake this guy is MacGyver now. The opening shot that introduces us to Trip is him sitting in a school bus with actual teenagers who look their age. You just have a tall Lucas Till sitting with these kids looking like a guy who's been left back for several years trying to get his GED. The first thing I thought was, “Oh. So I guess he’s a left back student. Oh wait he’s not? HAHAHAHA!” Over four years ago, Jane Levy starred in the ABC series Suburgatory where she was a teenager in high school. Over four years ago, Levy also starred in the 2012 NICKELODEON film Fun Size where she was A HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT and she looked like it. Four years later after starring in horror films such as Evil Dead and Don’t Breathe, you see her as a mature adult who should be cast as a college student. But seeing her cast as a high school student is beyond belief. I guess cause she’s short she can still be cast as a high school student similar Mae Whitman in The Duff, but…….COME ON NICK! You could’ve easily broke away from your formula and cast these college looking actors in college. Not every film of yours HAVE to feature a central character in high school.2/5 | 46%FULL REVIEW here: https://rendyreviews.com/movies//monster-trucks-review

Sleepless is marketed as a Jamie Foxx action vehicle also billing Michelle Monaghan alongside with him. Out of the entire cast, the most obscure yet best performance through the entire film was from David Harbour. Ever since Black Mass, I’ve begun to become fond of David Harbour. Whether it would be in Black Mass, The Equalizer, and most notably Stranger Things, he manages to breathe life into characters even for the little screen time he gets. Here, Harbour is the one that brings out the charisma, humor, and life the film desperately needed. His character’s dynamic with Michelle Monaghan’s is by far more entertaining than the story centered on Foxx himself. They have good lines of dialogue as they riff off each other time to time. When the film is centered on them, it feels like a different/much better movie. The reason for this is mainly because these two characters aren’t even in the original film which explains a lot. You don’t really feel that these characters fit into this film until the stupidity of the screenplay kicks in with a twist.For a film titled Sleepless there are a lot of sleepwalking performances. With the exception of Harbour, nobody is really trying in this movie. This is Jamie Foxx’s first film since Annie back in 2014 and yet somehow all of his charisma was sucked out of his soul in that time span. It is not really his fault though in all honesty. It is really both the film’s screenwriting. This film is directed like any given action film in a January slate by a European director. This isn't even directed by a French director but a Swiss one named Baran bo Odar. The way this film was directed, it easily could've been a EuropaCorp production produced by Luc Besson and you wouldn't tell the difference.It’s disappointing knowing the screenwriter of this is Andrea Berloff, the half of the screenwriting duo that wrote Straight Outta Compton (and was nominated for an Academy Award for it) which was a well-scripted film. Because of the way Vincent was written, you don’t really get to like him. It is Vincent you don’t really like opposed to Foxx’s performance. With Vincent, you see him as both the worst father ever and the worst undercover cop ever. He constantly tells different characters [that he “don’t trust”] that he has been trying to crack this specific case for two years. He lies to nearly everyone he interacts with including his ex-wife, his son, the mob bosses that threaten him, etc. He makes excuses for nearly every action he does is one ill-conceived idea after another. Even when you’re supposed to feel for him you truly can’t. The majority of the film you see his ass constantly handed to himWhatever good intentions I had for this film quickly faded away for its true colors begin to show by the end. It’s just a run of the mill action film with the true intention to franchise itself. Yeah, the movie sets itself up for a sequel that it doesn’t either earn or deserve. With something like Taken or Die Hard or even John Wick, you had an original concept with enough action, story, and character to keep audiences entertained even when it had an open-ended conclusion that can stand on its own. We got sequels to all of those films because the first film stood on its own as both great action flicks and overall good movies. This has the nerve. This had the audacity to set itself up a sequel while being a bad remake, a bad action flick, and overall a pretty dull movie. The original film has numerous action sequences that look a lot of fun. This only has four. Albeit they are somewhat well choreographed they are nonetheless unmemorable.Hampered with unnecessary add-on characters that are more interesting than the unlikable central character, Sleepless is a dumb and dull action remake that vaguely resembles its original film.Rating: 1/5 |27%Full Review: https://rendyreviews.com/movies//sleepless-review

FULL EXTENDED REVIEW: https://rendyreviews.com/movies//xxx...er-cage-reviewOne of the best things about the first xXx is Xander Cage himself. Xander Cage is back as he talks trash as much he kicks ass. If you saw the 2002 film, you already know that Cage is the smartest guy in the room who can solve situations faster than Scooby-Doo and makes anyone he talks to (if not a hot girl) feel like shit about themselves, so it’s entertaining to see him do what he does best. All the film’s genuine humor comes from Cage. He can make Yo Mama jokes after he slept with her. That's the type of guy Cage is. You can tell Diesel himself is having fun as Cage once again due to the glowing charisma and charm he bleeds in this character. As much as you ask why did this character need to come back to the big screen, you immediately see the answer is simply Diesel charming the pants off his audience. Granted he could have done it with another Riddick film but whatever we got Xander Cage.We are living in the age where we get more than four superhero movies a year. We got Disney’s Marvel and Warner Bros.’ DC highlighting their films every year. Now to enter their competition we got Paramount’s xXx. I’ll be damned that this isn’t labeled as a superhero movie because xXx: The Return of Xander Cage combines the formula of both Marvel and DC into its hyperactive action. This movie has the plotting of a Marvel movie while ripping off elements from every recent DC film. This is nothing more than a comic book movie that retreads the same material of the first xXx and applies it to this sequel which is slightly inspired if not incredibly stupid. If Captain America: The Winter Soldier had a baby with Suicide Squad and fed it nothing but Mountain Dew, it would be this movie. It's as if D.J Caruso was turned down by Warner Bros. to make Suicide Squad so he decided to make his own version but with xXx.From the very beginning, one of the most notable films this rips off is Suicide Squad. Yep Suicide Squad. Because Suicide Squad was popular enough for the teen demographic, it decides to steal the majority of its elements even down to pretentiously trying to sell its own soundtrack by playing a song in every three scenes. One of the most notable devices this takes from Suicide Squad is the intro title cards. Although this utilizes them better by having the cards show up sporadically throughout the film other than showing up in one shot, but then it starts getting to a Yoga Hosers level of annoying where it shows up for every single character including the ones who are there for one scene and never seen again. It even rips off a moment from Man of Steel. Remember in Man of Steel when Zod did his worldwide televised message threatening the destruction of earth? Well the same thing happens here. But since you already know the antagonist is only human and doesn’t have any Kryptonian technology, IT MAKES NO GODDAMN SENSE!Another thing the film asks you to believe is Xander Cage picking up every chick he meets. I know spies have to get the girl and have obligatory relations all for the sake of the film’s genre, but I’m not going to suspend my disbelief of Xander Cage receiving an orgy because he’s Xander Cage. The film plays him off as a legend bigger than James Bond where girls just throw themselves at him and for some reason, I found it uncomfortable. Nowadays, we see Bond pick up girls who are close to his age (like in Spectre he briefly hooked up with Monica Bellucci), and yet we see Xander Cage get with girls significantly younger than him numerous of times. By the time he makes out with the last girl the script tells him to make out with, you’re either going to go “my man,” or be like me and go “bullshit.”Despite it benefitting from brief “turn your brain off” entertainment from several well choreographed action sequences and Diesel’s charismatic performance, xXx: The Return of Xander Cage is nothing but an unnecessary action sequel that retreads every element from generic blockbusters we see today.2/5 | 44%

https://rendyreviews.com/movies//live-by-night-review

You haven't seen Why Him? yet....this is citizen kane compared to that

So I saw this in 4DX last night in the first showing in Times Square at 7 PM and it was an experience. My theater wasn't huge with hype as we were all investing with the visuals onscreen. Two characters I did attach myself to was Donnie Yen as Chirrut Îmwe who is one of the coolest characters this film introduces. He’s like Daredevil mixed with Hawkeye where he’s blind yet skilled with a staff and a crossbow and charismatically making jokes about it. Another one is Alan Tudyk as the voice of K-2SO who is personally my favorite Droid introduced into the Star Wars universe to date. He is a hilarious character who unlike 3-CPO or R2-D2, helps out on the action and joins in the fights. He is completely badass. And besides that he is genially funny by having a cynical personality. I hate fan service in movies especially in large franchises, but boy this delivers nearly as much as Captain America: Civil War does. One of the biggest reveals in the film’s marketing was Darth Vader. James Earl Jones returns to do the voice work of the iconic character, but once he’s shown BOOOOOOOY! I dare you not to get giddy about it. Although he is unnecessary, Vader is bak and is displayed as a threat similar to Freddy Kruger in the first NIghtmare on Elm Street. The film even introduces him in all white fog from the light walking up like he’s a God, Even minor things Star Wars fans love will have something to get a kick out of. There is something for nearly everyone in this. : I have several major problems with the movie. For one our leads are very undeveloped. Jyn Erso is the audience’s avatar for this adventure and the film tries it’s best to flesh her out into a third dimensional character, but yet it fails to do so somehow. The film is paced way too fast to give her more of a personality than she is showcased to have. Casein Andor who I personally refer to as Han Manolo (if you have seen The Book of Life you’ll get it) isn’t that fleshed out as well which I think is for the best due to the fact that by it’s conclusion you would walk out depressed. As much as the film’s visual effects are amazing there is one that is incredibly out of place. One of the important Star Wars characters in A New Hope was Grand Moff Tarkin played by Peter Cushing who passed nearly two decades. Since he was crucial to the story, the visual effects studio, Industrial Lights, and Magic came in to recreate him through CG and you can see it. It looks impressive but it isn’t impressive enough to not notice. It’s obvious that he’s CG and the film gives him a long amount of screen time and yet every time he appears you cringe onto how much the CG doesn’t mix well with actual human actors. I commend them for the effort, but it wasn’t effective enough.

I saw this film two months ago early in the morning at 10 AM at a WB Screening room and thought it was good. I wrote my entire review in an old journal. A month later I lost that journal at the theater I saw Moana at and completely forgot about the film. I knew I had to watch it again to refresh my memory. I took a friend last night and went to the actual world premiere of the film and through the movie the review just came to me and then I erased nearly everythiing good I had because the smell of the cheese was so damn strong. As many characters this film has, Will Smith, of course, gives a great performance. The majority of the film you see Smith with red eyes ready to cry. Ifeel it was easy for him to do it too. I assume he just had to think back to his “Oscar snub” for Concussion mixed with the negative critical reception for Suicide Squad and the waterworks were ready to come down. It’s a shame his character Howard is just a centerpiece of a larger (and honestly a mean-spirited story), because if he had a longer screen time, he would be considered for a Best Supporting Actor in a People’s Choice Award or something. The entire film is marketed as a Will Smith Christmas Carol, but the real story is more messed up than the trailers have you to believe.What the trailer doesn’t show is that Howard is the head of this agency company but doesn’t sit in on meetings or answer his phone which results in a decline of the company. Because of fearing they’ll lose their job, three of his closest employees/friends encounter these actors and hire them to portray them as death, love, and time so they can interact with Howard and use it as evidence to get Howard out of the company. If this isn’t the most pretentious selfish storyline covered in fluff then I don’t know what is? What makes it even worse is that in the climax Howard realizes this all together as one. For Howard not really interacting with any of his colleagues that work for him throughout the film, it makes barely any sense that not only he knew what they have done, but even notice and point out their personal problems that they have themselves. You question how does he know all of this stuff when he doesn’t even acknowledge them throughout the entire film. Rating: 2/5 | 42% http://www.rendyreviews.com/movies//collateral-beauty-review

http://www.rendyreviews.com/movies//silence-review

As R rated Christmas comedies go, Office Christmas Party is a much more fun time than Bad Santa 2. Office Christmas Party is exactly what the title is. It’s an Office Christmas Party. Comedians. Party. Shenanigans. What more do you want? Though it does bring a simple idea of throwing this party that takes place in one day, the film gradually gets crazier the longer it goes on. The film starts off pretty tame introducing these characters with their own personality, but once the party begins, the film slaps on it's R rating. It doesn’t try to force a lot of dirty raunchy humor down your throat as it takes you by the hand and guides you there. Though some jokes are written for themselves as you’re able to fill in the blanks on how a joke will play out later in the film, you’re interested in how it will affect the characters at this party. The film goes from a fun episode of The Office that somehow gradually ends up becoming Wolf of Wall Street. www.rendyreviews.com/movies//office-christmas-party-review

With La La Land you have another traditionally MGM musical that homages the dominant musical era of Gene Kelly. The film’s musical styling and dancing sequences combine nearly every Gene Kelly film varying from Singing in the Rain, An American in Paris, and Anchors Aweigh by bringing it to our 21st-century modern day era with a narrative similar to 500 Days of Summer. While doing it it isn’t in your face about it and when it is it has a strong statement to say of musicians of today wanting to live in the past when the future is always changing. The film has an ideology for music that feels that arguably applies to film. It states the cooperate issues in the industry that affects the people that work in it in order to capture the idea of “The American Dream.”From the opening number, you’re engaged in this colorfully vibrant musical with upbeat numbers that get into your head. Chazelle has this direction of where he has his characters in these settings that are taken to its advantage. With every set piece, there is a new musical or dancing sequence around the corner waiting to astonish you. The music in the film is outstanding with original tracks that are catchy and sweet with a jazzy soul and melody. Justin Hurwitz brings a magnificent score that will not only put him on the map outside his buddy Chazelle's films but also earn him an Academy Award for Best Original Score nomination.As much it is Chazelle’s direction that powers the film, it is the chemistry of Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone that ties it all together. These two have been each other’s love interests in 3 movies now where one’s performance brings out the best in the other. They have so much chemistry that even Chazelle subtly makes a joke of it in the film. If they keep this up they are going to become a much more iconic duo than Johnny Depp and Helena Boham Carter. I am convinced that you can put them in any movie and most likely it’ll work. If Disney decides to make a live action adaption of any given animated film like Zootopia, cast them as the leads, and it’ll work. Their bond is the definition of the word “cute.” They display the genuine emotion of affection that is believable. No scenes sexual innuendos or intercourse to manipulate your believability of their love because their songs and dance sequences are all that is needed to accomplish the heart and emotion.They have their own signature song that gives them their own Oscar winning performance. With Gosling is City of Stars (which I'm calling the Best Original Song of 2016) and with Emma Stone is Audition (The Fools Who Dream). As much as I love City of Stars, The Fools Who Dream works perfectly with Stone's performance. With that musical performance the visuals has her in the spotlight as she's singing her butt off in the same way Anne Hathaway did in Les Miz. And you know what? That film got her an Oscar for that one song and The Fools Who Dream gives Stone that Oscar winning moment Hathaway had in Les Miz.With amazing visuals and outstanding performances from Stone and Gosling, Damian Chazelle’s La La Land isn’t only a musical that homages traditional ones of the past but also has the longevity to last a lifetime.FULL REVIEW: http://www.rendyreviews.com/movies//la-la-land-reviewRating: 5/5 | 97%

It’s as if Illumination heard audiences leaving Minions and going “it was good and all, but it’ll be nice to see the studio do something outside Despicable Me,” and Chris Meledandri replied, “challenge ACCEPTED!” http://www.rendyreviews.com/movies//sing-review