January 29, 2025
jmunney
Cinema, Movie Reviews
Billy Boyd, Cheri Oteri, Dog Man, Isla Fisher, Kate Micucci, Laraine Newman, Lil Rel Howery, Lucas Hopkins Calderon, Maggie Wheeler, Max Koch, Melissa Villasenor, Pearce Bunting, Pete Davidson, Peter Hastings, Poppy Liu, Rahnuma Panthaky, Ricky Gervais, Stephen Root
What’s up, Dog (Man)? (CREDIT: Universal Pictures/DreamWorks Animation)
Starring: Peter Hastings, Pete Davidson, Lil Rel Howery, Lucas Hopkins Calderon, Isla Fisher, Ricky Gervais, Cheri Oteri, Billy Boyd, Stephen Root, Poppy Liu, Laraine Newman, Melissa Villaseñor, Kate Micucci, Maggie Wheeler, Pearce Bunting, Max Koch, Rahnuma Panthaky
Director: Peter Hastings
Running Time: 89 Minutes
Rating: PG for The Typical Animated Mayhem
Release Date: January 31, 2025 (Theaters)
What’s It About?: Officer Knight and his canine companion Greg are one of the best crime-fighting duos in the city. That is, until a major accident renders Knight’s head and Greg’s body unusable. So their doctors decide to make lemonade and fuse the two of them together to form the titular Dog Man (barks and whines provided by writer-director Peter Hastings)! That would seemingly make him the perfect foil for the incorrigible feline criminal Petey (Pete Davidson), but alas, Dog Man gets off on the wrong foot with his Chief (Lil Rel Howery) and the Mayor (Cheri Oteri) and ends up having to stay on desk duty. Meanwhile, Petey obtains a clone of himself named Lil’ Petey (Lucas Hopkins Calderon), who may just soften his heart and convince him to become a doting father instead of a criminal mastermind.
What Made an Impression?: You Got to Be Silly: Dog Man is based on the graphic novel series of the same name by Dav Pilkey, who’s probably best known for Captain Underpants, which got its own big-screen adaptation back in 2017. I’m familiar with Pilkey’s output via pop culture osmosis, but this is my first time actually diving into what he has on offer. And now that I’ve been exposed, I must say: I hope I have kids soon so that we can fully explore the Pilkey-verse together. Simply put, this is silly sophomoric humor done cleverly and colorfully. Dopey wordplay and visual gags abound, befitting a world in which a canine-human hybrid is the hero.
Family Matters: Considering all the unabashed silliness on display, you might be surprised to learn that Dog Man also isn’t afraid to get heavy. To be clear, it’s not like it’s an unrelenting tearjerker about cancer and/or addiction. Nevertheless, you might find yourself shedding a tear or two. For example, after Officer Knight and Greg become Dog Man, they’re unceremoniously abandoned by Greg’s wife, who apparently couldn’t bear to ever see her husband and fur baby fused together. Meanwhile, Petey’s villainy seems to be entirely fueled by his abandonment issues with his own deadbeat dad (Stephen Root). These themes don’t weigh down the wackiness, but they certainly make themselves known. So if you want a steady stream of ultra-silly laughs with a side of genuine family therapy, Dog Man has you covered.
Dog Man is Recommended If You Like: Weird Al, Looney Tunes, “Cat’s in the Cradle”
Grade: 3 out of 5 Copz
January 27, 2025
jmunney
Cinema, Movie Reviews
Amin Joseph, Aziza Scott, Dewayne Perkins, DomiNque Perry, Gabrielle Dennis, Janelle James, Joshua Neal, Katt Williams, Keke Palmer, Keyla Monterroso Mejia, Lawrence Lamont, Lil Rel Howery, Maude Apatow, One of Them Days, Patrick Cage, SZA, Vanessa Bell Calloway
One of them days, Two of them ladies (CREDIT: Sony Pictures Entertainment/Screenshot)
Starring: Keke Palmer, SZA, Vanessa Bell Calloway, Joshua Neal, Aziza Scott, Patrick Cage, Keyla Monterroso Mejia, Katt Williams, Maude Apatow, DeWayne Perkins, Amin Joseph, Gabrielle Dennis, DomiNque Perry, Janelle James, Lil Rel Howery
Director: Lawrence Lamont
Running Time: 97 Minutes
Rating: R
Release Date: January 17, 2025 (Theaters)
Having now watched One of Them Days, would I now like to have one of them days myself? Yes, but minus the financial instability. Although I suppose we all need something to light a fire to get us going. But it’s also important to have a support system to fall back on. Anyway, Dreux (Keke Palmer) and Alyssa (SZA) certainly go through quite the stressful ordeal, but along the way they also make some new friends, meet Katt Williams, and realize new creative and professional horizons. I call that a win! Plus, the honey butter biscuits at Church’s Chicken are SOOO good.* (*-I’ve never actually been to a Church’s, but I’m choosing to trust the ecstasy I saw on screen.)
Grade: The Rent’s Still Too Damn High, Though
August 31, 2022
jmunney
Cinema, Movie Reviews
Alessandro Nivola, Alison Brie, Aubrey Plaza, Ayden Mayeri, Ben Sinclair, Debby Ryan, Ego Nwodim, Fall, Fred Armisen, Grace Caroline Currey, Hiro Kanagawa, Isabelle Fuhrman, Jeff Baena, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Julia Stiles, Lil Rel Howery, Mason Gooding, Matthew Finlan, Molly Shannon, Orphan, Orphan: First Kill, Rossif Sutherland, Spin Me Round, Thomas Mann, Tim Heidecker, Tricia Helfer, Virginia Gardner, William Brent Bell, Zach Woods
What’s going to Fall? (CREDIT: Lionsgate)
Fall:
Starring: Grace Caroline Currey, Virginia Gardner, Mason Gooding, Jeffrey Dean Morgan
Director: Thomas Mann
Running Time: 107 Minutes
Rating: PG-13
Release Date: August 12, 2022 (Theaters)
More
December 9, 2021
jmunney
Cinema, Movie Reviews
Alexander Ludwig, Andrew Bachelor, David Koechner, J.K. Simmons, Jeffrey Donovan, Kristin Chenoweth, Lil Rel Howery, National Champions, Ric Roman Waugh, Stephan James, Tim Blake Nelson, Timothy Olyphant, Uzo Aduba
National Champions (CREDIT: Scott Garfield/Courtesy of STX Films)
Starring: Stephan James, J.K. Simmons, Alexander Ludwig, Lil Rel Howery, Tim Blake Nelson, Andrew Bachelor, Jeffrey Donovan, David Koechner, Kristin Chenoweth, Timothy Olyphant, Uzo Aduba
Director: Ric Roman Waugh
Running Time: 116 Minutes
Rating: R for Big Boy Executive Language
Release Date: December 10, 2021 (Theaters)
National Champions is certainly timely, as the subject of student-athlete compensation has made its way up to the Supreme Court, and players are now permitted to financially benefit from their name, image, and likeness. But I don’t imagine that this conflict will play out in real life anywhere near as operatically it does in this movie. That’s not a criticism! I’m in the theater to be entertained, not to confirm that they get all the facts straight. And for the most part, I was thrilled, amused, and riveted.
Stephan James is at the center of it all as star quarterback LeMarcus James. James (the actor) played Jesse Owens in his breakthrough role, so he’s building up a bit of a resume of athletes who take a historical stand. LeMarcus is a senior playing his last college game in the looming title bout who’s also the presumptive number one pick in the upcoming NFL draft. But he’s calling an audible, as he announces that he’s boycotting the game unless and until the NCAA agrees to recognize varsity athletes as employees and pay them accordingly. He’s got about three days to convince his teammates and his opponents to join him, while also ducking out of the way of his coach (J.K. Simmons), various college football administrators and executives, and the NCAA’s ruthless outside counsel representative (Uzo Aduba).
Director Ric Roman Waugh and screenwriter Adam Mervis (adapting his own play of the same name) have painted a massively cynical portrait of the state of college athletics. Some of their tsk-tsking is well-founded, but my god, is it breathtakingly overwrought. It kinda has to be, considering that pretty much every line of dialogue frames everyone’s decision in life-or-death stakes. This could be a formula for unbearable soul crushing, but thankfully the premise has to allow at least a hint of optimism to poke its way in throughout. That lightness helps us realize that the ridiculousness of all the melodrama is a plus, as laughing at the moral righteousness of this exploitative system is a healthy reaction.
One other noteworthy observation before I go: several real-life athletes and sportscasters appear as themselves, which would add some authenticity, but that’s undercut by the lack of real-life branding. The teams in the championship game are from fictional schools, and ESPN (or any other sports network for that matter) is never once mentioned. I’d argue that the fakeness is weirdly the right choice (though I imagine it actually wasn’t a choice at all); this isn’t the real world after all, but a slightly heightened version of it.
National Champions is Recommended If You Like: Over-the-top line deliveries, Sports movies without any sports, Kristen Chenoweth performances without any singing
Grade: 3.5 out of 5 Salaries
August 15, 2021
jmunney
Cinema, Movie Reviews
Brendan Sexton III, Channing Tatum, Don't Breathe 2, Free Guy, Jodie Comer, Joe Keery, Lil Rel Howery, Madelyn Grace, Rodo Sayagues, Ryan Reynolds, Shawn Levy, Stephen Lang, Taika Waititi, Utkarsh Ambudkar
CREDIT: Sony Pictures; 20th Century Studios/Screenshots
Free Guy:
Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Jodie Comer, Joe Keery, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Lil Rel Howery, Taika Waititi, Channing Tatum
Director: Shawn Levy
Running Time: 115 Minutes
Rating: PG-13
Release Date: August 13, 2021 (Theaters)
Don’t Breathe 2:
Starring: Stephen Lang, Madelyn Grace, Brendan Sexton III
Director: Rodo Sayagues
Running Time: 98 Minutes
Rating: R
Release Date: August 13, 2021 (Theaters)
In Free Guy, good vibes beget more good vibes. When Guy the NPC gains self-awareness, he focuses on self-improvement, and that leads to all the other NPCs in Free City becoming better versions of themselves, and even some of the real people playing the game start to adopt a more positive view of the world. As it turns out, that tendency was in Guy’s programming all along. He’s got a fantastically complicated algorithm that allows for so many wondrous possibilities. It’s infectious, even for a Ryan Reynolds skeptic like me.
Contrast that with Don’t Breathe 2, in which hate begets more hate. The first Don’t Breathe effectively toyed with our sympathies regarding Stephen Lang’s blind Norman; the sequel tries to do the same, but his negative characteristics are a bit too overwhelming to fully root for him. (Also, his blindness isn’t utilized to the same thrilling effect.) Furthermore, the people who target him this time around have a sympathetic reason for doing so, but basically every action they take in the name of their mission is pretty despicable. At least the young girl isn’t similarly hate-filled – there’s no Bad Seed vibes here. But otherwise, the blood and the pain just pile up and pile up.
GRADES:
Free Guy: 4 out of 5 Skins
Don’t Breathe 2: 2 out of 5 Light Switches
July 26, 2021
jmunney
Cinema, Movie Reviews
Anthony Davis, Bob Bergen, Bugs Bunny, Candi Milo, Cedric Joe, Ceyair J. Wright, Damian Lillard, Diana Taurasi, Don Cheadle, Eric Bauza, Ernie Johnson, Gabriel Iglesias, Harper Leigh Alexander, Jeff Bergman, Khris Davis, Klay Thompson, LeBron James, Lil Rel Howery, Looney Tunes, Malcolm D. Lee, Nneka Ogwumike, Sarah Silverman, Sonequa Martin-Green, Space Jam, Space Jam: A New Legacy, Steven Yeun, Zendaya
Cartoon LeBron (CREDIT:
Warner Bros. Pictures/YouTube Screenshot)
Starring: LeBron James, Bugs Bunny, Don Cheadle, Sonequa Martin-Green, Cedric Joe, Khris Davis, Ceyair J. Wright, Harper Leigh Alexander, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Lola Bunny (Zendaya), Sylvester, Yosemite Sam, Foghorn Leghorn, Elmer Fudd, Marvin the Martian, Tweety Bird, Granny, Speedy Gonzales, Tasmanian Devil, Road Runner, Wile E. Coyote, Jeff Bergman, Eric Bauza, Bob Bergen, Candi Milo, Gabriel Iglesias, Anthony Davis, Diana Taurasi, Klay Thompson, Damian Lillard, Nneka Ogwumike, Ernie Johnson, Lil Rel Howery, Sarah Silverman, Steven Yeun, Harry Potter, Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, King Kong, Ilsa Lund, Austin Powers, Dr. Evil, The Iron Giant
Director: Malcolm D. Lee
Running Time: 115 Minutes
Rating: PG
Release Date: July 16, 2021 (Theaters and HBO Max)
The first Space Jam was unhinged; the second Space Jam is also unhinged, but it could be more unique. Or, it could be more committed to its own singular vision. What reality is it tethered to? Are these the same Looney Tunes from 25 years ago? When we get any sense of continuity, I’m intrigued. As for that journey through the Warner Bros “Server-verse”? Why not just fully commit to it and have Tony Soprano play point guard while the Droogs take up the frontcourt? Look, Al-G Rhythm’s plan makes no sense, LeBron’s conflict with his son makes no sense, the scoring system makes no sense, why not take that nonsense to the nth degree? I believe they could’ve flown blind.
Grade: Where’s the Basketball?* (*Said like the “Where’s the Beef?” Lady)
March 26, 2021
jmunney
Cinema, Entertainment To-Do List, Music, Television
Bad Trip, Eric Andre, Evanescence, Lil Rel Howery, Pooch Perfect, Rebel Wilson, Solar Opposites, The Bitter Truth, The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers, Tiffany Haddish
Pooch Perfect (CREDIT: Christopher Willard/ABC)
Every week, I list all the upcoming (or recently released) movies, TV shows, albums, podcasts, etc. that I believe are worth checking out.
Movies
–Bad Trip (Streaming on Netflix) – Eric Andre strings Lil Rel and Tiffany Haddish along for his shenanigans.
TV
–The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers Series Premiere (March 26 on Disney+) – Ducks never say die.
–Solar Opposites Season 2 (March 26 on Hulu)
–Pooch Perfect Series Premiere (March 30 on ABC) – Rebel Wilson hosts a dog grooming competish!
Music
-Evanescence, The Bitter Truth
March 26, 2021
jmunney
Cinema, Movie Reviews
Bad Trip, Dan Curry, Eric Andre, Kitao Sakurai, Lil Rel Howery, Michaela Conlin, Tiffany Haddish
Bad Trip (CREDIT: Dimitry Elyashkevich/Netflix)
Starring: Eric Andre, Lil Rel Howery, Tiffany Haddish, Michaela Conlin
Director: Kitao Sakurai
Running Time: 84 Minutes
Rating: R for Thoroughly Shameless Crudity, Nudity, and Psychoactive Drug Indulgence
Release Date: March 26, 2021 (Netflix)
I sure wish I had been able to experience Bad Trip in a packed theater, but at least my hearty laughs in my solo viewing experience were enough to fill my living room. This delightfully demented piece of guerilla filmmaking is basically a feature-length version of the man-on-the-street bits from Eric Andre’s anarchic eponymous Adult Swim talk show. Starring alongside Andre are a couple of famous funny people as well as dozens of unsuspecting members of the public. There’s a bit of a story (with the screenplay credited to Andre, Dan Curry, and director Kitao Sakurai), in which Florida Man Chris (Andre) has a chance meeting with his old school crush Maria (Michaela Conlin), who invites him to come check out her art gallery in New York City. He then invites his best pal Bud (Lil Rel Howery) on a road trip to the Big Apple, and they abscond in a car that belongs to Bud’s incarcerated sister Trina (Tiffany Haddish), who busts out and tracks down the boys with deadly intentions. The narrative actually hangs together a lot more nicely than I would expect in a prank film, but ultimately it’s just an excuse for a bunch of outrageous shenanigans.
Practical jokes can be hilarious, but ethically speaking, if you’re going to be a professional hooligan, you ought to be careful about who you select as the butts of your jokes. I approve of Andre’s mischief because he is consistently the target of his own pranks. He renders himself into every possible version of a fool, while the unsuspecting public provides another layer of humor by serving as witnesses struggling to make sense of the chaos unfolding around them. In Bad Trip, that chaos includes fake blood splatter, fake projectile vomit splatter, and fake semen splatter. (Shame is a foreign concept to Eric Andre.) The crowd might get hit by some shrapnel, but Andre’s the only one who’s truly suffering for his art.
Bad Trip unsurprisingly holds up when considered on a scene-by-scene basis. But it’s tough to sustain a narrative when utilizing a sketch-comedy sensibility. But shocker of shockers, it turns out that the script delivers some satisfying emotional payoffs to all of its characters. It helps that everyone involved takes a decidedly askew approach to the tropes of buddy flicks. For example, there’s a runner about the notorious 2004 Wayans Brothers cross-dressing comedy White Chicks that improbably gets its own little mini-arc and cathartic conclusion. We all need a space for our ids to run free every once in a while, and I’m so glad that Eric Andre and his cohorts have put theirs on display for all the world to see.
Bad Trip is Recommended If You Like: The Eric Andre Show, Jackass, Borat
Grade: 4 out of 5 Stolen Cars
February 13, 2020
jmunney
Cinema, Movie Reviews
Chanté Adams, Chelsea Peretti, Courtney B. Vance, Issa Rae, Jasmine Cephas Jones, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Lakeith Stanfield, Lil Rel Howery, Marsha Stephanie Blake, Rob Morgan, Stella Meghie, Teyonah Parris, The Photograph, Y’Lan Noel
CREDIT: Universal Pictures
Starring: Issa Rae, Lakeith Stanfield, Chanté Adams, Y’lan Noel, Rob Morgan, Lil Rel Howery, Teyonah Parris, Courtney B. Vance, Chelsea Peretti, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Jasmine Cephas Jones, Marsha Stephanie Blake
Director: Stella Meghie
Running Time: 106 Minutes
Rating: PG-13 for Some Sizzling Moments
Release Date: February 14, 2020
The ads for The Photograph have been giving off strong “Nicholas Sparks, but with black people” vibes. However, I had a hankering suspicion that it wouldn’t actually be as saccharine as that glossy presentation suggested. First and foremost, the two leads, Issa Rae and Lakeith Stanfield, are not exactly for taking on such gloopy material. Surely their presence would ensure that things would end up a little more left-field than this genre typically goes. Indeed that has turned out to be the case, but to be fair to the marketing team, this is not an easy movie to advertise. It has a slow-burn meditative spirit (driven along by Robert Glasper’s jazzy piano score) that does not immediately grab you in the way that trailers are meant to in a couple of minutes. But if you simmer in it for a couple hours, your heart might just grow a few sizes.
Michael (Stanfield) is a reporter working on a story that happens to involve recently deceased photographer Christina Eames (Chanté Adams). He then finds himself smitten by Christina’s daughter Mae (Rae), who is working her way through the truth bombs that her mom has left her in a pair of letters, one addressed to Mae and one to Mae’s father. Meanwhile, writer-director Stella Meghie frequently takes us back to Christina’s young adulthood in small-town Louisiana where she is unable to reconcile a possible future with the man that she loves (Y’lan Noel) and her dreams of making it big in New York City. She tends to always choose her professional goals over her loved ones, and in a case of family history rhyming, Mae and Michael find themselves worried that they are going to do the same. That struggle to find the nerve to say what you know is in your heart is deeply felt in The Photograph.
I have noticed a lot of excitement around this movie about the potential to see black love that is not also about trauma on the big screen. And if that is what you are looking for, I suspect that you will be satisfied. The blackness in The Photograph is not meant to represent all blackness, as Michael and Mae’s story is by no means a microcosm of all people of color. They are two people who happen to be black and happen to be falling in love. The details are their own, while also being part of a continuum of their lineage. It is an openhearted, generous story that I think a lot of people are going to be happy to witness.
The Photograph is Recommended If You Like: Beyond the Lights, Love & Basketball, A bottle of wine and a record player on a rainy night
Grade: 4 out of 5 Darkrooms
August 21, 2019
jmunney
Cinema, Movie Reviews
Alice Lee, Brittany Runs a Marathon, Jillian Bell, Lil Rel Howery, Micah Stock, Michaela Watkins, Paul Downs Colaizzo, Utkarsh Ambudkar
CREDIT: Amazon Studios
Starring: Jillian Bell, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Michaela Watkins, Micah Stock, Lil Rel Howery, Alice Lee
Director: Paul Downs Colaizzo
Running Time: 103 Minutes
Rating: R for Some Fun and Sexy Times in Between the Marathon Training
Release Date: August 23, 2019 (Limited)
Brittany Forgler (Jillian Bell) has never been much of a fan of exercise, but somehow she finds herself training for the New York City Marathon mere months after she first takes up running. I’ve been running since I was in sixth grade, and my current goal is to complete the 2020 New York City Marathon. Our origins are very different, and yet we are one and the same.
Brittany Runs a Marathon understands certain core tenets about running, particularly that no matter how in shape or out of shape of you, the next challenge is always daunting. And no matter how much running becomes a part of your routine, the next run still feel sublime. That’s important, as it makes up for the fact that much of the non-running moments of this movie are kind of soul-crushing. As we watch Brittany make her way through the gig economy and deal with roommate issues and learn how to be an adult who regularly visits the doctor, we mostly get a cinematic effort that’s about at the level of a dimly lit sitcom, or a dramedy of malaise, or what have you. But when Brittany conquers the huffing and the puffing and the indiscriminate sweat as she makes her way through the five boroughs, a bit of transcendence manages to sneak up on us.
Brittany Runs a Marathon is Recommended If You Like: Cheering on runners of all skill levels
Grade: 3 out of 5 Sweat Patches
Older Entries
Jmunney's Blog 