Daddy's Home 2 mixes laughter with love

Movie Title:    Daddy's Home 2

Grade:  B

Rating: PG-13,  1 hour, 40 minutes

In a Nutshell: “We’re back with more daddies!” says Will Ferrell’s character, easily the tag-line for this movie.

It's a funny sequel that also has some touching, cheesy moments, which will put you in the Christmas spirit and inspire you to celebrate your own crazy, dysfunctional family.

A lot of movie critics really hated this, but I thought it was really entertaining for a light night at the movies.  It addresses the complicated issue of step-parenting in a lighthearted way.

Uplifting theme: 

• Divorce doesn’t end the relationship.  My parents were divorced when I was a little girl, but they continually have to associate with each other because of their children.  Instead of competing for their kids' love, parents and step-parents should be glad that there are more parents around who can love and support their children.  It's never perfect, but it's better than hating each other, which hurts the kids and puts them in a difficult situation.
• “You’re the only one who can ruin Christmas.” – Brad Whitaker (Will Ferrell)
• Family comes in all shapes and sizes.
• Love, patience and forgiveness.

Things I liked:

• The leading men were very entertaining and had great chemistry together.  They are all equally talented at comedy as they are in at drama.  Wait, have we ever seen Will Ferrell in a serious drama?
• The cabin where they stayed was awesome!  I stayed in an AirBnB home in Arizona that had the same awesome shower.
• Mark Wahlberg did a great job. There’s an interesting article that reveals Wahlberg hopes that God will forgive him for his past mistakes and movies.  While Mel Gibson plays Mark Wahlberg's dad, he is only 15 years older.  Surprising, right?
• I thought it was funny when Mel Gibson’s character demands that his grandchildren call him “El Padre.”  My dad decided he wanted his grandchildren to call him “Sir”, so now they call him “GrampSir.”  Ha ha
• The “Be a man” bowling scene was funny and touching at the same time.  I have 4 sons, so my husband gave that speech many times to our boys that Mel Gibson’s character gave to the cute Dylan (Owen Vaccaro).
• The band “Chicago” is mentioned in a funny way and you also hear their music later from Chicago IX - Chicago's Greatest Hits.  I went to one of their concerts back in the day.
• There’s a really cool copper mug that several people hold and drink out of.  I looked on Amazon to see if I could find it and I did.  It’s called Moscow Mule Hammered Copper 18 Ounce Drinking Mug, Set of 4.
• I thought the movie “Missile Tow” sounded awesome!  Ha ha  It’s the pretend movie that the families watch at a theater, featuring Liam Neeson.  Linda Cardellin’s characters says of the movie, “It has kids in it.  How dirty can it be?”  That was a big poke at the movie Daddy's Home 2 itself.  The answer?  The presence of kids definitely doesn’t mean the movie is clean or appropriate for kids to watch.
• All of the characters sing!  They don’t all have great voices, but it’s still really fun to see and hear them sing.
• John Cena has a much bigger role in this movie than he did in the first Daddy's Home.   If you’re a fan (who isn’t?), you’ll be happy to know that he voices the main character in the movie FERDINAND that arrives in movie theaters next month.  Rumor has it that the next movie in this franchise will revolve around him.
• The audience I sat with loved the surprise cameo at the end of the movie.

Things I didn’t like:

• The trailer showed lines that didn’t actually appear in the movie.
• It definitely helps to have seen the first Daddy's Home movie.  You’ll understand more jokes and the character development better.  There are references to things that happened in the first movie.
• Some of the jokes fall flat.
• Mel Gibson's character is a real jerk.  He's not really funny, but just laughs at his own jokes.  Speaking of Mel's laugh, it sounds really raspy like he has been smoking all of his life.
• It often feels like a goofy sit-com with a laugh track and carefully placed music to tell you how to feel.

Funny lines:

• “I got some gender-neutral flashcards!” –Brad Whitaker
• “The thermostat is a sacred covenant.” – Brad Whitaker   (That’s so true.  When my sisters and I were growing up, we had a constant battle with our dad about the temperature in the house.  We would dial the temperature up to the high 70's and he would knock it back down to the 60’s.
• “It looks as if he’s been chiseled out of Gibralter itself.” – Will Ferrell’s character describing Mel Gibson’s character.

Tips for parents: 

• There is a funny scene when Will Ferrell and John Lithgow play car games during a long ride to a cabin in the snow and drive everyone else nuts with their enthusiasm.  What car games do you play with your family?  Here’s a list you can use with your kids to make the time go faster in the car and be more enjoyable.  
• You see Will Ferrell’s back side in his underwear with an uncovered cheek.
• There is a lot of man-on-man kissing (father/son), as well as talk of French kissing, and a gay moment where a boy wants to kiss another boy.
• Inappropriate sexual innuendos.
• Megan (adorable Scarlett Estevez) lifts up her shirt to look like her sexy step-mom.  Later, she swears several times and shoots a gun.
• Some sexist comments.
• Two of the little girls get drunk.
• Didi Costine’s character was such a bratty little girl.  She was either on her cell phone the entire time or saying snotty things to people.  If you have a daughter, talk to her about some of those behaviors that can make a pretty girl become ugly.
• Andrea Anders has a very short part as a principal who tries to unsuccessfully convince the parents to put down their cell phones and iPads.  I laughed out loud, because it’s so true.
• Mel Gibson's character is a womanizer.

MOVIE REVIEW MOM

@trinaboice 

Patriot's Day honors Boston's courage and compassion

Movie Title:   Patriot's Day

Grade:  B+

Rating:  R, 130 minutes

In a Nutshell: I love Boston.  I've been there several times and would eagerly go there again tomorrow.  It’s a modern city dripping in history. 

This powerful film offers a respectful look at Boston’s finest who responded to terrorism at the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings.   

“Two people took several days and weeks to plan out hate, but love responded in an instant.” – Interview with Patrick Downes

Uplifting theme: 

• Dedicated to all those who showed courage, compassion, and dedication during this terrible period in Boston’s history.
• Civic pride, teamwork, community
• Love vs. hate
• Good vs. evil
• Boston strong!
• “Always have hope.  Be confident that good always defeats bad.” – Dun Meng

Things I liked:

• The entire cast does a great job providing Boston accents and tributes to people we enjoy getting to know.
• Mark Wahlberg gives a dynamic performance as Sgt. Tommy Saunders.
• It’s always a pleasure to see J.K. Simmons, John Goodman, and Kevin Bacon.  I adore them all.
• You get to see real footage of the aftermath.
• Great aerial shots of Boston.
• Fans of Supergirl: Season 1 [Blu-ray], Melissa Benoist, will be happy to see her, although not happy to see her play the wife of a deluded terrorist.
• I loved the real photos and information at the end. The video footage of Patrick Downes running the race after his surgery really touched me.

Things I didn’t like:

•  Does anyone in Boston know how to speak a single sentence without using the F-bomb? 

Interesting lines:

• “Do not Mirandize.”   -  It's interesting and frightening that a decision could be made to deny an American citizen of his individual liberties.
• “Not what you were expecting, huh Comish? – lady cop

“It never is.” – Commisioner Ed Davis (John Goodman)

• “For a Muslim woman, marriage is a lilting dance of duality: strength and submission, beautiful, selfless, rapturous love of two masters, the carnal and the divine.” – Katherine Russell

Funny lines:

• “Give ‘em hell, brother!” – a guy who throw a sledge hammer out his front door to help the cops.
• ‘I gotta F***n quit smoking.” – Sgt. Jeffrey Pugliese (J.K. Simmons)
• “I’ll tell ya that boat ain’t gonna float.” – cop after a bunch of other cops shot a ton of bullet holes in it. 

Tips for parents: 

• There is a lot of blood, gore, and violence.
• You see several people do drugs.
• A gazillion F-bombs and other profanity.
• It's important to point out to your kids that Dzhokhar's friends were arrested for seeing evidence, but not turning it over to the police and obstructing the bombing investigation.

UPDATE as of 2/1/2017
A Boston Marathon bombing survivor plans to marry the fireman who rescued her, several media outlets report. “In the hospital, my mom tried to set me up with him,” Roseann Sdoiasaid. “She was like, ‘Oh, did you see that firefighter? He’s so cute.’ And I was like, ‘Mom, I just got blown up.’ ” Sdoia and her new fiancé, Mike Materia, will participate in the annual Empire State Building Marathon to help raise money for the Challenged Athletes Foundation. Materia comforted Sdoia on the ride to Massachusetts General Hospital in a police vehicle on the day of the bombing. “I asked him if I was going to die. And he told me that I was going to be OK, that I only had a flesh wound,” she told reporters. “He’s seen me on my worst day.” The couple had their first date in June 2013. He proposed last month.

@trinaboice 

Deepwater Horizon pays a respectable and riveting tribute to the worst oil disaster in US History

Movie Title:  Deepwater Horizon

Grade:  A-

Rating:  PG-13, 99 minutes

In a Nutshell:  If you don’t remember the real events from when this true story happened, you learn that the oil rig’s blowout lasted 87 days, making it the worst oil disaster in U.S. history.  Director Peter Berg is great at creating tension and action sequences that make it hard to look away.  This is the second time he and Mark Wahlberg have filmed a true story action flick (Lone Survivor), and they have another one hitting the big screen soon (Patriot Day).

It’s truly stunning how they filmed this movie, because it looks and feels so real.  It took over $100 million to recreate this man-made disaster that shook the country in 2010.

Uplifting theme: 

• Family is everything.
• Hope, greed, sacrifice for others, friendship, grit and determination.

Things I liked:

• Impressive machinery and rough working conditions will make you respect the men and women who work on oil rigs.  The film does a good job paying tribute to the people in this tough industry.
• There is some humor in the beginning that allows you to sense the friendship and comradery among the team workers and allows you to begin to care about them.
• John Malkovich gives a great performance with an interesting Southern drawl.
• I’m always so impressed with people who are calm in an emergency.
• It’s great to see Kurt Russell in movies.  The first time I saw him in a movie I was a little girl and thought he was so handsome.  It was nice to see him and Kate Hudson together in the same movie.  Don’t we all miss Goldie Hawn?
• I love Gina Rodriguez from the hit TV show “Jane the Virgin” for which she won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress. It’s great to see she got another gig in a movie.  She learned to rap for her role in the indie film Filly Brown in 2012.
• The touching reunion scene at the end of the movie got the audience crying all around me.
• You get to see pictures of the real people who died in this disaster.   
• Mark Wahlberg is the perfect actor to play this rough and tumble oil rig worker with a heart.  
• There is a powerful scene when Kurt Russell and John Malkovich just look at each other, yet volumes are spoken.

Things I didn’t like:

• Sometimes people talk really fast and slurred, making it hard to understand what they say.
• It’s often difficult to see what’s going on, because there is fire, mud, oil, and debris flying everywhere.
• If you want to see this movie, do it at the theater.  Some of the scenes are dark and will look terrible on your computer screen.
• There is a lot of facial hair in this movie!  Why is that such a popular thing right now?  Just a little bit of scruff is sexy, but when you can hide jelly beans in your beard, you know it’s too long.
• The audience won’t always be able to understand the technical jargon.

Interesting lines:

• “Hope ain’t a tactic, Don.” – Mike Williams (Mark Wahlberg)

Funny lines:

• “I don’t know if it’s stupid, but it ain’t smart.” – Caleb Holloway (Dylan O’Brien)

Tips for parents: 

• 2 F-bombs and lots of other profanity.
• Bloody, deep wounds, people in perilous situations, death, destruction. 

Daddy's Home is dumb and delightful

Movie Title:    Daddy’s Home

Grade:  B

Rating:  PG-13, 1 hour 36 minutes

In a Nutshell:    

Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg definitely have chemistry together.  You can see jokes coming a mile away, but they’re still pretty funny.  Critics are ripping the movie to shreds, but the audience I watched the movie with was rolling on the floor with laughter and thoroughly enjoyed it.  Maybe it was all that Christmas sugar going to their heads that made them not care that the movie was formulaic and lazy. 

Uplifting theme: 

• “A real dad wouldn’t give up on his kids so easy.” – Griff  (Hannibal Buress)
• “You can find the good in just about anything.” – Sarah to Brad   (What a nice compliment.  I hope people can say the same thing about me.)
• “It takes a real man to show his emotions.” – Sarah (Linda Cardellini)
• The movie begins with a question: “What do kids need more – a father or a dad?  What’s the difference?” 

Things I liked:

• Normally, product placement in movies drives me nuts, but it’s actually pretty clever in this film.  Director Sean Anders pokes fun at blatant merchandising and it ends up actually being funny.  You’ll never think of Cinnabon and the Ford Flex in the same way again.
• The movie begins with fairly morbid, but funny kid drawings by Megan.  Scarlett Estevez is absolutely adorable as Megan.
• There’s a super short clip of one of my favorite movies of all time “The Princess Bride.”
• Mark Wahlberg’s character is described as what would happen if Jesse James and Mick Jagger had a baby.  He’s hilarious.
• There were several jokes about the movie Frozen that got the audience howling.
• I’ve liked Thomas Haden Church ever since he was a young guy on Wings.  His character in this film is ridiculous, yet surprisingly likeable.
• The ending was precious.

Things I didn’t like:

•  I never like it when kids swear in movies.  The audience laughed, but I cringed.
• Any movie with Will Ferrill is sure to include crude humor that features poop, animals humping, testicles and tampons.  This one delivers.
• With all the money Will Ferrill makes, why doesn’t he get his teeth fixed?
• There is a reference to the Mary Tyler Moore and Rhoda TV shows that no one under 50 will even understand.
• There are some stunts and CGI that look totally fake.
• There is a whole series of racist jokes that are funny and awkward at the same time, including a deserved slam about Paula Deen.

Funny lines:

•  “I’m a hot habanero pepper right now.” – Brad
• “You must be the new and improved husband.” – Mark
• “If this guy were my wife’s ex, I’d put a bullet in my head.” – Leo

Tips for parents:   

• Profanity.
• There are actually some good parenting tips in the movie, such as having “kind, but firm boundaries.”
• While the movie is completely goofy, families might benefit from a discussion about some of the issues that are brought up in the film: parenting, love, respect, boundaries, family. 

Transformers: Age of LOUD, crashing, exploding metal for 2 1/2 hours

Movie Title:   Transformers: Age of Extinction

Grade:  B

PG-13, 2 hours 37 minutes

In a Nutshell:   Lots and lots of flying, crashing, exploding metal.  I thought it was funny when an old man at the beginning of the movie sells pieces of his old, abandoned theater to Cade (Mark Wahlberg's character who builds things out of old trash), and says “Sequels are a bunch of crap.”   True fans will enjoy another round of twisted steel, but others may not endure this long, loud, 4^th installment of Michael Bay’s Transformers franchise.

Among the new characters added in an attempt to add a fresh take are a Samari who quotes Haiku and a John Goodman voiced Autobot who spits out wisecracks as he chomps on his electronic cigar, one of the few items not used for product placement in the film.  Good and evil Transformers battle for 2 ½ hours in what feels like a Godzilla movie vs. Aliens meets Jurassic Park .

Uplifting theme:  There are several positive messages that run throughout the movie, including overcoming greed, living and fighting with honor, the importance of family, and how you better pick the right aliens as your friends if you want to survive.  Ha ha

Things I liked:

• You get to see lots of close-up transformations which are extremely cool.
• I’m always happy to see Mark Wahlberg, Kelsey Grammer and Stanley Tucci in anything.
• There are a lot of cool aerial views.
• I thought the high-rise buildings in Beijing were interesting.
• Awesome, but short sequence at the beginning with dinosaurs.
• Did you notice the “Got ammo?” bumper sticker on the Autobot truck?

Things I didn’t like:

• Shia LaBeouf is one of the most talented young actors of today, but does not appear in this movie.  Unfortunately, he’s been too busy lately, getting into trouble for being a jerk.  I really hope he doesn’t self-destruct like Lindsay Lohan.
• The movie is so loud with constant explosions that it’s often difficult to hear the wisecracks, which are also constant.
• Director Michael Bay has stated that this film will kick off a second trilogy of Transformers movies.  I’m not so sure that’s a good thing.

Interesting lines:

• Tessa, the bratty and disobedient (and beautiful, of course) teenage daughter, played by Nicola Peltz, says to her dad “No boys.  Graduate first. You do know that no one else has that rule.”  He responds “Rule? Don’t make it sound harsh.  It’s not a rule.  It’s wisdom.” 
• “Contracts, like humans, expire.”  - bad transformer.   Sorry I started losing track of all of the good and bad transformers’ names….
• “You promised me human intelligence…or is there such a thing?”  - bad transformer
• “We’re human beings – we make mistakes.  That’s what we do.  Sometimes out of those mistakes come the most amazing things.”  - Cade Yeager
• In Harold Attinger’s office, a sign on the wall says “Freedom isn’t free.”

Funny lines:

• “Tess, I’m basically you’re uncle.  Su casa es mi casa.  We’re going to lose the casa.”  - Lucas
• “Research lab?  It’s a barn, dude.”  - Lucas
• “I don’t think you can own someone.  That was a like a long time ago…even in Texas.” – Lucas
• “Dad, there’s a missile in the family room.”  - Tessa
• “If he eats you, I get the GTO.”  - Lucas
• “We lost them!  Good job, stranger from the cornfields!”  - Lucas
• “You are so grounded!”  - Cade Yeager
• “I’m not here to get your daughter; you’re here to help me get my girlfriend.”  - Shane
• “That was insane!  It was awesome, but it was insane!” - Shane
• “Romeo and Juliet, huh? You know how those two ended up?”  Cade Yeager

“In love.”   -  Tessa

“Dead.”   - Cade

• Cade asks Shane “You stole mouthwash?”  Shane quips “I like to be fresh when I’m making out with your daughter.”  Cade barks“That’s never going to happen.”

Dumb lines:

• “You don’t have a warrant!”   Cade     “My face is my warrant.”  - Titus
• “I’m glad you don’t suck at everything, dad.”  - Tessa
• “Human beings have asked us to play by their rules.  Well, the rules have just changed.”  - Optimus
• “I’m literally going to kill you.”  - Cade to Shane
• “That’s a bad idea, but I’m all about bad ideas.”  - Hound
• “This one’s for you, A-hole.”  - green Transformer
• Cade yells “Where are you going?”  Green transformer snaps “To lay some hay.”
• “Never is here.”  - bad robot
• “I’m coming for you.”  - Optimus Prime

Tips for parents:   I appreciated the parental aspect of the movie that features a dad trying to raise his daughter in a dangerous world.  He says to his gorgeous daughter with amazing legs “Sweetie, your shorts are shrinking by the second.”  Early in the movie he says “I promise you, one day I’m going to build something that matters.”  He’s an inventor, but what he builds that matters the most in the movie is his relationship with his daughter. This movie is long and loud.  Some profanity, lots of violence, and 1 F-bomb.

In case you missed the first 3 Transformers movies: