20s Movie Review - The Bob's Burgers Movie

Director: Loren Bouchard, Bernard Derriman
Genre: Animation/ Comedy/ Adventure
Runtime: 102 minutes
Year: 2022
Starring: H. Jon Benjamin, Kristen Schaal, Dan Mintz, John Roberts, Eugene Mirman, David Wain, Zack Galifianakis, Kevin Kline, Larry Murphy, Gary Cole, Nick Kroll

Description: When a sinkhole in front of Bob’s Burgers threatens the Belchers’ plans for a successful summer, Bob and Linda try to keep their business going, while the kids attempt to save the restaurant by solving a mystery.

Review: The biggest challenge in making a feature film from a television series is making sure to strike the right balance between offering the regular viewers what they are used to and getting the new audience into a world unfamiliar to them. The makers of “The Bob’s Burgers Movie” took a successful approach: launching into a story without any explanation that both parties will have a great time with.

Bob and Linda are keeping themselves and their three children afloat by running a struggling burger joint. They are tight on money and it is getting tense, whether they will be able to make the monthly lone payment. The obstacle that can’t be solved in twenty minutes this time: a giant sink hole appears in front of their restaurant and a dead body is found in is. With no one able to access their restaurant, Bob and Linda have to find a way to make money and Tina, Gene and Louise are trying to solve the mystery of the dead body.

“The Bob’s Burgers Movie” is not a movie that goes for depth, but I never expected that or want that. It’s a fun, entertaining, hilarious film, that will be a joy to watch for both fans of the series and those just introduced to it. Personally, the mystery that the kids are trying to solve, was my favorite part of the film.

Rating: 3,5/ 5

10s Movie Review - Blockers

Director: Kay Cannon
Genre: Comedy
Runtime: 102 minutes
Year: 2018
Starring: Leslie Mann, John Cena, Ike Barinholtz, Kathryn Newton, Geraldine Viswanathan, Ramona Young, Gina Gershon, Gary Cole

Description: Three parents try to stop their daughters from losing their virginity on prom night.

Review: Blockers is short for cockblockers, an American term that people use when they want to stop someone from having sex. According to Wikipedia the term became popular due to the movie “Superbad”. And like in “Superbad”, teenagers made a pact to lose their virginity at the end of the school year. In “Blockers” it’s about three girls though and the ‘blockers’ are their parents who try to prevent their daughters to make a mistake.
Julie, Kayla and Sam are three best friends that are about to graduate. Julie decides she wants to use her virginity on prom night, to her boyfriend Austin. Kayla wants to join in and picks her lab partner as her date. Sam wants in, because she feels left out and she is secretly a lesbian. When Julie’s mom and Kayla and Sam’s fathers find out about their ‘sex pact’, they try to stop the girls.
The film has some really funny moments, but it also has some typical juvenile comedy like we are used to in films with this theme. John Cena is actually really funny, as the big sportsfanatic dad with an emotional side. And I also liked Ike Barinholtz. The three parents don’t have a lot of chemistry though.
“Blockers” is more fun then I expected.

Rating: 3/ 5

00s Movie Review: Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby

Director: Adam McKay
Genre: Comedy
Runtime: 108 minutes
Year: 2006
Starring: Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly, Sacha Baron Cohen, Leslie Bibb, Gary Cole, Jane Lynch, Michael Clarke Duncan, Amy Adams, David Koechner, Rob Riggle, Molly Shannon, Greg Germann

Description: Number one NASCAR driver Ricky Bobby (Will Ferrell) stays atop the heap thanks to a pact with his best friend and teammate, Cal Naughton, Jr. (John C. Reilly) But when a French Formula One driver (Sacha Baron Cohen), makes his way up the ladder, Ricky Bobby's talent and devotion are put to the test.

Review: NASCAR: fast cars driving hundreds of laps on a simple oval track. In America it’s one of the most viewed sports. The NASCAR world was already put in the spotlight with the Tom Cruise film “Days of Thunder” and in the animated Disney film “Cars”. In “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Rocky Bobby” it takes on the comedy genre and the world is brought to us with a big fat wink.
We follow Ricky Bobby, a successful NASCAR driver. At first, everything goes uphill for him. Rocky becomes an egocentric superstar, but eventually ends up in the gutter. And everything that he once had and loved, slips through his fingers. And although this all sounds super cliché, which it is, the film is so entertaining and funny.
Will Ferrell is one of those actors that makes me laugh, no matter what. I just have to look at him and he cracks me up. And surely not everyone likes his humor. If you don’t like Will Ferrell’s films or roles, you don’t like this one either. Because it’s Will Ferrell, being Will Ferrell. The humor is never subtle, yet very hilarious.
Sacha Baron Cohen is really funny as Ricky Bobby’s big rival, Jean Girard. The way he pronounces Rocky Bobby is something that cracks me up constantly, even now, while writing this review and saying it in my head. My dad can do a killer impression of him by the way!
“Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby” is definitely not a masterpiece or one of America’s best comedies. But somehow, this movie always makes me laugh out loud and that’s what a fun comedy should do.

Rating: 3,5 / 5

100 Movie Challenge 2016 - # 60: Hop

Director: Tim Hill
Genre: Animation/ Comedy
Runtime: 95 minutes
Year: 2011
Starring: James Marsden, Russell Brand, Hank Azaria, Hugh Laurie, Elizabeth Perkins, Kaley Cuoco, Chelsea Handler, Gary Cole

Description: E.B. (Russell Brand), the Easter Bunny's (Hugh Laurie) teenage son, heads to Hollywood, determined to become a drummer in a rock 'n' roll band. In LA, he's taken in by Fred after the out-of-work slacker hits E.B. with his car.

Review: A film about Easter, we had it coming. The makers of “Despicable Me” bring us the the animation “Hop”. On Easter Island there is a gigantic candy factory, where they make Easter candy. A team of chicks works there for the Easter Bunny. He is getting older and wants his son E.B. to take over. But E.B. isn’t ready for it and doesn’t have the ambition either. He wants to be a drummer instead. E.B. leaves the island to chase his own dream. There he meets Fred, an grown man who still lives with his parents and can’t find a job.
“Hop” is filled with typical Easter ingredients: eggs, chicks, bunnies. But it’s mostly a story about the expectations that parents have of their children. The film has some really funny moments. The factory looks really good and Russell Brand voices E.B. well. The problem here is that mix of animation of live action. It can work, “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” and “Mary Poppins”proved that. But here there is a distance between the animated characters and the people.
“Hop” is film that will be loved by children, the adults won’t like it as much. Maybe it’s because I’m a bunny owner myself, that I kinda had fun watching “Hop”.

Rating: 3/ 5