ybenhayun Reviews

Sausage Party (2016)

Funny, but not nearly as funny as I wanted it to be

[4/10 · 22 August 2016]

The biggest problem that I had with this movie is that while there were plenty of jokes that landed, they were few and far in between for much of the movie. There are big stretches of the film where characters are saying really shocking and raunchy things, but none of them got laughs. It would essentially feel like I was watching a hot dog and a bun just talk about sex in really grave detail, and when it wasn't funny, it just kinda felt weird to watch. It takes up until the last 20 minutes of the movie for it to be consistently funny, and when it got there I was laughing pretty much non stop until the end, but up until then it would be like a laugh every now and again. The jokes that do land are really funny, and this movie is incredibly creative and clever in a lot of different ways, and I think the way they depicted food being killed was genuinely hilarious, but if you're going to make a film this raunchy and dirty it needs to be hilarious through and through, otherwise it just comes off as immature and stupid, which is how a lot of the film felt to me.

Star Trek Beyond (2016)

Easily the weakest of the new trilogy

[5/10 · 29 July 2016]

I really loved the first two movies of the franchise reboot, so I was really excited to see STB but I left the theatre pretty disappointed. Things I had problems with: a lot of the actors seemed as if they were playing Star Trek caricatures as supposed to actual people (Spock, Scotty, Bones, and Chekov for example) which made it hard for me to follow them throughout the story. There are HUGE plot holes in the movie that are really glaring, and every other scene was a dramatic conversation between two characters where one of them learned an incredibly important life lesson and says some cliché and quotable line over the not so subtle score (ie "fear of dying is what keeps us alive). It didn't really seem like there were any sincere consequences or obstacles that the characters had to overcome, when only one named character was actually killed throughout all of the catastrophes in this movie, and when so often a character will say that something is impossible, and within five minutes they'll figure out a way around it (with really clichéd "I got it!" moments). Perhaps the biggest problem with the movie is a line that Kirk actually says in the very beginning of the film: this all feels very episodic. This could've been condensed to a TV show episode, and it would've worked because there weren't any stakes, nothing drastic had occurred that changed the characters, and you aren't left with any sort of impression as you leave the film. Overall, this is about as average as any other action blockbuster and I can't find anything really exemplary to remark about this movie.

Café Society (2016)

One of Woody Allen's weaker projects

[5/10 · 23 July 2016]

There is a lot going against this movie. Jesse Eisenberg's character comes off as a complete asshole within 10 minutes of the film, thanks to a really terrible scene between him and a Jewish hooker. None of the humor in that scene landed, which just made the situation really sad and uncomfortable to watch, and then kind of difficult to root for Eisenberg at all after that. Steve Carell isn't bad by any means, but he seems incredibly miscast in a role like this (not to say that he can't act in roles that are more serious, but this Hollywood film executive didn't really suit him). Both of the Dorfman parents come off as really awkward on screen and thus kill any of the jokes that they're meant to deliver. The only actor that gives a notable performance in this movie is Corey Stoll as the brother, but it's not enough. Kristin Stewart was mostly fine, but occasionally started picking up some of her infamous Kristin Stewartisms throughout. Carell and Eisenberg become really close out of nowhere, both of the couples' relationships are sped up by Woody Allen's narration (which doesn't really add anything to this film), and this movie is only 90 minutes long, so I feel as if they could have definitely spent more time with all of these relationships, instead of just having Woody tell us what was happening. And on top of all of this, while this is a beautiful film to look at, there is nothing new in this movie. It's another Woody Allen movie with the same romances and love triangles centered around white people who like jazz with a pretty inconclusive and unsatisfying ending.

The BFG (2016)

eh

[5/10 · 16 July 2016]

This movie is, at best, alright. If you're looking for a good movie to take your kids to, this will do, but there isn't really anything to hold onto for older audience members. I thought the little girl's performance was really awkward and unnatural at parts, a lot of the dialogue/sequence of events seemed pretty forced, and while the motion capture was really well done, any time the girl and the BFG were in the same shot the blue screen was painfully obvious. Not to mention that the last third of the movie is pretty boring (it was really testing my patience). Spielberg is a great director in his own right, so he does an overall good job with an incredibly lackluster script, but even so, there isn't much of anything here that you could call noteworthy in any way.

How to Train Your Dragon 2 (2014)

This movie isn't special at all

[5/10 · 15 June 2016]

This is easily one of the most clichéd movies I've ever seen. The dialogue seems forced and unnatural, the plot conveniences are too glaring to forgive, every single side character feels completely useless as they have no reason for being on screen except to deliver not-that-funny one liners here and there. And to top it all off, the animation hasn't really improved from the first film. If you've seen an animated movie before, you'll be able to stay one step ahead of the movie the entire time because it's unbelievably predictable. There's a scene where Hiccup is captured (pretty inexplicably?) and when his captor takes off her mask and you see his captor is woman, I audibly said "That's his mother isn't it." And it was! Towards the end of the movie Hiccup is in "danger" and I audibly said "don't tell me his dad is going to sacrifice himself for his son." And he did! This movie will throw the shallowest of plot twists in the feeblest attempt to keep this movie interesting, and as a result, none of this makes any sense. Hiccup and his father finally see his mom after 20 years and everyone's okay and back to normal in like 5 seconds. The villain's motivation was basically just "I'm evil and I have a deep voice" and Kit Harrington's character kept switching sides for what seemed like no reason. This sequel isn't exceptional in any way, it's unforgivably average and mediocre, which is really upsetting considering how much I liked the first one.

Love & Friendship (2016)

This Jane Austen story falls pretty flat

[6/10 · 14 June 2016]

The funniest character in the film is James Martin. He steals every scene he's in and each time he was on the screen I couldn't stop laughing. Unfortunately, he isn't in a lot of the film, and the rest of the movie's humor comes in the form of pithy one liners at the end of every scene. Sometimes I'd chuckle at those, but that'd be about it. There aren't any weak links in the cast, they all do a great job with what they're given, but I wish they were given something better. The movie moves at an incredibly slow pace, and with not a lot ever going on, it often feels like I'm being read a Jane Austen novel rather than watching a movie adaptation. The movie isn't "bad" by any means but there's so little going for it that I would consider noteworthy I can't really find myself ever wanting to sit through Love & Friendship again. Maybe if you absolutely LOVE period dramas from a design standpoint or are a huge Jane Austen fan, you'll get more out of this movie than I did, but otherwise there isn't much here.