Watch the whole thing HERE!
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
Watch the whole thing HERE!
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
CAST: Will Forte, Lana Condor, Tone Bell, Luis Guzmán, Martha Kelly, P.J. Byrne, John Cena. Eric Bauza, Kenneth Choi, Candi Milo, Jim Cummings. Directed by Dave Green.
REVIEW: Shot years ago and shelved as a tax write off by Warner Bros. Discovery in 2023, “Coyote vs. ACME” is finally getting its richly deserved chance at a big screen release courtesy of Ketchup Entertainment.
Anyone familiar with Wile E. Coyote’s endless pursuit of the Road Runner, will also know of his unsuccessful use of rocket-powered roller skates, anvils, dehydrated boulders and many other tools of destruction manufactured by ACME.
After years of unsuccessfully using their products Wile E. Coyote has had enough. Holding a placard reading “ACME SUCKS,” he hires down-on-his-luck attorney Kevin Avery (Will Forte) to sue ACME Corporation for selling defective gadgets. “ACME has knowingly been making dangerous products for decades!”
As ACME’s lawyer, the ruthless Buddy Crane (John Cena), prepares to go scorched earth on Avery—“I don’t just want him scared, I want him ruined!”—the case reveals ACME as a profit-obsessed conglomerate with no regard for the safety of its customers. “Wile E. Coyote,” says Crane, “is reckless and all his injuries are self-inflicted.”
A mix of live action and animation, à la “Who Framed Roger Rabbit,” “Coyote vs. ACME” blends a high-level comedic cast, led by Will Forte, and classic cartoon characters in a rambunctious comedy that captures the anarchic spirit of Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies films.
It’s a love letter to the cartoons that inspired it, but it’s not simply a rehash of decades old animated movies. Instead, it takes well-known characters, like Wile E. Coyote, the Roadrunner, Elmer Fudd, Daffy Duck and many others (mostly voiced by Canadian actor Eric Bauza), and creates a new world for them to inhabit without losing what made them fun in the first place.
Wile, for instance, is taking on ACME, an even bigger foe than The Roadrunner, but just like in the old shorts, he refuses to give up no matter what. His perseverance against Sisyphean odds is the thing that makes him lovable, and when echoed in Avery’s rediscovery of what the law can do for his client, brings a nice symmetry to the storytelling. “He’s one of the most hard-working people I’ve ever met,” Avery says of Wile. “He would never think of quitting. And I think everyone should be inspired by that.”
Fans will uncover Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies tributes throughout. “That’s all folks,” written in dust on the back of Avery’s car, is a throwback reframed as a veiled threat from opposing council. The non-consensualist Pepé Le Pew is blasted with anti-predator spray, and Foghorn Leghorn as ACME CEO.
Hard core fans will note that Forte’s character, Kevin Avery shares a last name with Tex Avery , director and co-creator of the Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies style.
“Coyote vs. ACME” is a lot of fun, creating something new from the nostalgia fans feel for these characters and their trademarked brand of comedic chaos. It hits the anvil on the head (or should that be the other way around?) with impossible cartoon physics, humor—Forte and Cena are live action but have a fun cartoon vibe—heart and even some unexpected anti-corporate messaging.
SYNOPSIS: In “Kinda Pregnant,” a new rom com now streaming on Netflix, Amy Schumer plays a woman who, when her hopes of settling down and starting a family are upended, fakes a pregnancy and falls for the man of her dreams. “The belly is fake,” reads the movie’s tagline. “The struggle is real.”
CAST: Amy Schumer, Jillian Bell, Will Forte, Damon Wayans Jr., Brianne Howey, Chris Geere, Alex Moffat. Directed by Tyler Spindel.
REVIEW: “Kinda Pregnant” is kinda funny, with laughs sprinkled throughout, but it works best when it shelves the outrageous stuff in favor of more heartfelt material.
In the movie’s early minutes of seven-year-old Lainy (Jayne Sowers) tells her best friend Kate (Julianna Layne), “being a mom is the best thing a human being can do.”
Cut to modern day. Lainy, now played by Amy Schumer, is a schoolteacher, still best friends with Kate (Jillian Bell) and still obsessed with starting a family when she is hit with a double whammy. Kate gets pregnant after her boyfriend Dave (Damon Wayans Jr.) drops a bomb on her, leaving her feeling that love is a lie.
Jealous of Kate’s pregnancy and despondent over Dave, Lainy, in true screwball comedy form, shoplifts a fake baby bump and discovers that when people think she’s pregnant they’re nicer to her.
Cue the misunderstandings and mayhem.
Those familiar with Schumer’s work will find a great deal of shared territory between her stand-up and “Kinda Pregnant.” Bold, unapologetic and relatable, Schumer’s stand-up is personal, a beguiling mix of social commentary, self-deprecation and gender politics.
Many of those themes are present here.
The movie, like her stand-up and her award-winning TV show “Inside Amy Schumer,” deals with body image, societal expectations placed on pregnant women, insecurities, the intricacies of friendship and the blossoming of real human connection, but the keenly observed insights of her stand up are blunted here, mostly reduced to broad generalizations and rude and crude punchlines.
But don’t get me wrong, some of the raunchy stuff works— South African-New Zealander comic Urzila Carlson is outrageous and funny, and Brianne Howey as the overbearing Megan, who says, “Kindness is my favorite hobby,” raises a few laughs—but it seems at odds with the more heartfelt aspects of the story.
“Kinda Pregnant’s” clichéd message of learning to love oneself before seeking it elsewhere comes a bit too late, long after our love for the movie has gone.
If you have seen the trailer for “Strays,” a new comedy starring a pack of very cute dogs and the voices of Will Ferrell and Jamie Foxx, you know what you are in for.
If you haven’t seen the trailer, think of it as an animal road trip movie like “The Incredible Journey” minus the family-friendly bits. Or maybe as a riff on “The Adventures of Milo and Otis” with raunchy dialogue that would make Snoop Dogg blush.
Ferrell is trusting Border Terrier Reggie. He lives with Doug (Will Forte), a cruel owner who only puts up with the dog because his girlfriend adopted him from a local general store. The goodhearted Reggie calls Doug, “the best owner in the world,” despite the fact that their game of Fetch involves stranding Reggie far away from home to see if he can find his way back.
When the girlfriend leaves, Doug wants Reggie gone. He leaves the gullible dog to fend for himself on the street three hours away from home, alone and unloved. But Reggie doesn’t understand that he’s being abandoned. He thinks they’re playing another long-distance game of Fetch, and is determined to return to Doug and win the game.
Trouble is, he’s hopelessly lost. Dog-gone it.
On his journey Reggie meets Bug, a street-wise Boston Terrier, who runs with a pack of stray dogs that includes an Australian Shepherd named Maggie (Isla Fisher), and a therapy Great Dane named Hunter (Randall Park). Bug doesn’t trust humans. He was abandoned, and believes humans harvest dog poop to make chocolate.
Reggie’s new friends convince him that Doug has abandoned him. “Take it from me, kid,” Bug says, “he left your ass.” In disbelief, Reggie mumbles, “That would mean Doug doesn’t love me.”
His world turned upside down, Reggie vows to get revenge on his former owner. “You’re a stray,” Bug says. “You can do whatever you want.”
I think it is a safe bet to crown “Strays” the most adorable, yet rudest movie of the year. Reggie and his pals are a cute canine quartet but the film’s “beyond the chain” jokes and situations, mostly involving poop, vomit and doggie sex, are anything but sweet. It is a raunchy coming-of-age story as Reggie learns from his new friends that everyone has worth. It’s a great message, laced with laughs, for those with a high tolerance for poop-and-scoop humor.
As Reggie, Ferrell revisits the naiveté of the “Elf” era. The unsophisticated Border Terrier is a wide-eyed innocent, unaware of the ways of the world. He sees the good in everyone, including his hateful owner Doug. He’s a lovable waif, so the movie’s revenge fantasy angle plays well, but the real appeal here is his open-hearted way of viewing the world.
Ferrell is ably supported by Reggie’s new friends. Fisher and Park, are a flirty and often filthy duo, but it is Foxx’s finely tuned comic delivery that brings the funny. Add to that a truly strange cameo from Dennis Quaid and a ton of shock value, and you have a doggie style movie like no other.
“Strays” is not “Marley and Me.” It’s a deeply silly movie that fully embraces its extreme side. There is something inherently funny about watching these adorable dogs saying terrible things and while the humor may not be family friendly, the message that we should be nice to animals or they may do terrible things to us, is a good one.
“Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken,” a new animated coming-of-age story from Dreamworks, now playing in theatres, flips the usual idea of the tentacled sea creature from fearsome to heroic.
The Kraken-out-of-water tale isn’t a franchise—although it may be the beginning of one—but it does owe a debt to recent Pixar films “Turning Red” and “Luca,” movies about the transformation of body and expectations.
Years after leaving the sea to live on land and raise their family, ocean creatures Agatha (Toni Collette) and Peter Gillman (Colman Domingo) are secretive about their past. “We’re from Canada,” they say to explain away their blue skin, gills and lack of spines.
Fifteen-year-old daughter Ruby (Lana Condor) goes along with the lie, and admits to “barely pulling off this human thing.” At school, she feels different and has a hard time fitting in outside of her squad, a small group of BFFs.
“I just want to be Ruby Gillman, normal teenager,” she says.
Despite her mother’s strict rule of never going near the water, days before the prom, when her high school, skater-boy crush Connor (Jaboukie Young-White) almost drowns, Ruby dives into the ocean to rescue him. Contact with salt water releases out her true self, a giant luminescent, kraken. “I’m already a little weird,” she says, “but I can’t hide this.”
In short order Ruby learns of her heritage, and that her grandmother, Grandmahmah (Jane Fonda) is a warrior queen, the Ultimate Lordess of and ruler of the Seven Seas, and charged with keeping the undersea world safe from the main maritime threat—evil mermaids.
“But people love mermaids,” says Ruby.
“Of course they do,” says Grandmahmah. “People are stupid.”
Grandmahmah wants Ruby to become her successor and possibly settle an age-old score.
Themes of self-acceptance, family love and overcoming insecurity are common in films for kids and young adults, and “Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken” is no different. But what it lacks in originality—“Turning Red” got to the transformation as a metaphor for coming out of your shell first—it makes up for with good humor, fun voice work, particularly from Jane Fonda and Annie Murphy as a mermaid, and an engaging lead character.
Ruby is a sweet-natured math nerd wrapped up in a blanket of insecurity. As she attempts to navigate high school and her newfound kraken alter-ego, she never loses the teen aura that makes her so relatable. She may be able to morph into a giant, but the biggest things in her life remain her family and friends. It’s heartfelt, and somehow, not as sappy as it sounds.
“Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken” may not break new ground, or part the oceans, but it tells its story with panache, finding a way to merge a kid-friendly story with some decidedly adult jokes.
Is there a band who enjoys rock stardom more than Foo Fighters? They fill stadiums, record disco songs and death metal tunes. Leader Dave Grohl does drum-offs with teenaged musicians on YouTube and they trolled a Westboro Baptist Church protest with a loud ‘n lengthy version of the Bee Gees’ “You Should Be Dancing” from the back of a flatbed truck.
Foo Fighters let the good times roll into theatres this week with the release of “Studio 666,” a rock ‘n roll horror comedy now playing in theatres.
Following in the footsteps of their ancestors—KISS and the Monkees—they play themselves in a big screen schlock fest with some guts, glory and great tunes.
The movie begins with a flashback to 1993 and a horrific murder scene in an Encino mansion. The band Dream Widow has been recording an album there, but are interrupted by a nasty guy swinging a hammer. The dull thwacks of the hammer hitting the final victim are even captured on tape.
Cut to present day. Grohl, Taylor Hawkins, Nate Mendel, Pat Smear, Chris Shiflett and Rami Jaffee of Foo Fighters owe a new record to their label. “It’s our tenth album,” Dave says, “we can’t do the same old ****. We have to break the mold on this one.”
The label boss (Jeff Garland) knows how to make that happen. He suggests an old, abandoned mansion in Encino (see above). The place is rundown, and even the flirty neighbor (Whitney Cummings) gives off a strange vibe. “It definitely has a weird energy,” Dave says. “Do you guys get an overwhelming sense of death and doom?”
They do, but Dave hears something no one else does. “The sound of this house is the sound of album ten,” he says. “No songs yet, but we’ve got the sound.”
Reluctantly, the band moves in but despite Dave’s enthusiasm, the songs don’t flow. All he can come up with are retreads of his old tunes or plagiarized versions of other people’s songs, which leads to a Lionel Ritchie cameo that makes you wonder why he doesn’t do more comedy.
The writer’s block breaks one night after Dave is tormented by a dream—or is it?—of strange creatures who lure him into the mansion’s basement, where he finds a dusty old reel to reel machine, loaded up with hard driving songs left behind by Dream Widow.
Dave emerges with some killer riffs and a plan to record a devilish epic that could be a double or even triple album. “It’s going to be like “2112” times 2112,” he says.
Question is, what exactly has possessed Dave to record this song and what, exactly, will the band have to sacrifice to finish the album?
“Studio 666” is a satire on the whole “Devil made me do it” heavy metal lore with old school splatter effects, spurting blood and headbanging, literally and figuratively.
It’s unlikely we’ll be seeing any of the Foo Fighters on next year’s Best Actor list, but that isn’t the point here. This is a loving tribute to the kinds of movies Blockbuster kept on a shelf near the back of the store. Devil possession movies with low fi effects and some fun thrills and chills. Add to that some pretty good in-jokes, some funny/gross killings and you have a Faustian tale about selling one’s soul for rock ‘n roll.
“Studio 666” feels a bit long, but Foo Fighters, as usual, bring the good times, by poking fun at themselves and the devil movie genre.
