The Hangover 2 review

The hangover 2 is supposed to be one of the funniest movies of the year. Whoever decided that must be on whatever drugs the characters took. It was a little funny but all the humor in the sequel could have been found in the original movie. And what little humor there was in no way made up for the scars on my retinas for the crude images flaunted incessantly. At times it was literally painful to watch.

The ushers were definitely right to check IDs at the entrance, because this movie should have been rated NC-17. It also largely employed dumb humor. It reminded me of a high school freshman who thinks cursing and being vulgar is cool and takes it to the extreme just to fit in. If the whole thing was filmed in an inventive, neat or artful way, then it might have made up for its obvious lack of propriety, but no; the filming techniques were pretty typical, reusing some motifs from the first film, and bringing nothing new to the table.

The full frontal male nudity was uncomfortable to watch, and I couldn’t imagine how much worse it would have been if I had seen the film with any members of my family. The idea of the smoking drug dealing monkey was cool and pretty original, not to mention the monkey was a better actor than some of the people. The character Alan, played by Zach Galifianakis, was annoying and dumb. It was hard to believe that a character like that had any friends. The others were not much better. The constantly freaked out groom-to-be, Stu, played by Ed Helms, grated on your nerves after a while, and I’m not sure if best man, Phil, played by Bradley Cooper even had a purpose in this film.

The story was superficial at best and even though it wasn’t predictable, you almost didn’t care what happened in the plot because you knew they would get out of it safely and everything would be OK. It was easy to root out the source of drugs that caused the crazy night; too much emphasis was put into foreshadowing that scene so it was super easy to catch.

This movie was all about shock and eww. There was not much to it but gross-out humor, drug induced stupidity, and uncomfortably embarrassing situations. Word to the wise, don’t watch this with your family. If you liked the first one, and you don’t mind repetition and being scarred for life, then this is the movie for you.

I rate this movie 2 out of five stars and hope that others like it more than I did.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides review

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides was one of the most anticipated releases of the summer, but as far as I’m concerned, it didn’t quite live up to the hype. There were a couple great things about this movie, and their names are Johnny Depp and Geoffrey Rush. Their acting was pretty fantastic, as it was in all the previous films. Something unique to On Stranger Tides is you finally see the opposing characters working together rather than constantly fighting. Their dynamic was perfect, but I must say Geoffrey Rush as captain Barbossa kind of stole the show for me. His character still had a sense of mystery when I had all the others figured out.

Seeing it in 3D added a bit of depth (pun intended) to the experience, but it’s not worth paying an extra three dollars for. After all, what’s the point in shelling out extra money when you don’t feel like everything is flying right at you? The music was great as ever, the composer interlaced new themes with the old classics, and the sea chantey “My Jolly Sailor Bold” sung by mermaid Gemma Ward, was hauntingly beautiful. It had many good qualities but like many sequels it simply wasn’t up to par with the rest. Unfortunately people no longer expect excellence, especially with sequels, so most people will undoubtedly like this more than I did.

The Pirates story was meant to be a trilogy. Number three (At World’s End) ended very well, with the vanquish of two villains, a happily ever after, and a nod to eternal pirate adventures in the future. The audience knows the story goes on, you don’t need another movie to tell it. For the most part, it was a rehashing of old fight scenes, insufferable tedious characters, and Jack Sparrow’s repetitive captures and escapes. Penelope Cruz as Angelica was not very good at all, but to be fair she did the best with what she was given, which was a limited dose of talent and a weak character.

I liked the subtle nods to the Disneyland theme park ride on which all these movies were based. It gave Disney fans a little treat that others may not have noticed. Another treat was when Dame Judi Dench had a short cameo in the beginning.

The best thing about this movie was the mermaid scene. These deadly yet enchanting creatures really captured the mystery behind these pirate myths. A big fuss was made about Blackbeard and how he was supposed to be so terrifying but didn’t feel it. He was certainly cold and heartless, but I think the writers put in a lot more effort into the Davy Jones character of the previous films. All it took was one movie to take down the most renown and feared pirate in all folklore when the previous villains needed two movies and a sea goddess to do the job. All in all, this was a last-ditch effort to squeeze a bit more money out of the franchise before putting it to bed. I would suggest seeing a matinee showing or going to the theater on a promotional night so as not to pay full price.

I would rate this film three stars out of five.