Ted 2: Movie Review

Crasser doesn't always equal funnier.

The general rule for sequels is bigger and bolder. Ted 2 is just crasser, and that doesn't make it better. Ted and Tami-Lynn have gotten married and decided to have a baby. Ted, of course, can not produce a baby so the first third of the movie are the most ill-conceived, disgusting jokes of Ted and John pulling the worst stunts ever for securing a sperm donor. Some of it is still funny (Ted dressed as Paddington bear to break into Tom Brady's house) but most of it is just how far can we take these jokes.		2015 Directed by: Seth MacFarlane Screenplay by: Seth MacFarlane, Alec Sulkin, and Wellesley Wild Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Seth MacFarlane

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl: Movie Review

Trades away sentimentality for quirky humour but doesn't go far enough.

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, as the title suggests, is a quirky indie comedy; trying to subvert traditional mainstream sentimentality with referential humour. When it's trying to be funny, it is mostly funny. But it doesn't veer away from its mainstream source – girl dying from leukemia – as much as it thinks it does, and there isn't as much substance to make it more impactful or meaningful, or sentimental.		2015 Directed by: Alfonso Gomez-Rejon Screenplay by: Jesse Andrews Based on the novel by Jesse Andrews Starring: Thomas Mann, Olivia Cooke

Love & Mercy: Movie Review

A tragic but admirable tribute to Brian Wilson.

As the tagline says, Love & Mercy is the life, love and genius of Brian Wilson. Jumping from the early hits of the Beach Boys, to the lonely and fragile life of adulthood and back to the dramatic transition period of Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys, the film is a very stark, intricate and achronological examination of mental illness and musical genius. It stars Paul Dano as the young popular Beach Boy Brian Wilson and John Cusack as the older, former Beach Boy, the damaged and tragic Brian Wilson.		2014 Directed by: Bill Pohlad Screenplay by: Oren Moverman and Michael Alan Lerner Starring: John Cusack, Paul Dano, Elizabeth Banks and Paul Giamatti

Spy: Movie Review

Funny as a spy spoof but does venture into spy action.

Spy is not quite a spy movie nor a spoof of the genre but somewhere in between. Sticking with the latter would have been better, but at least it is funny through-out the entire run-time. Every scene from the Bond-esque opening to the end credits has multiple laughs. Some so funny that you can't help but laugh obnoxiously, probably to the annoyance of fellow movie-goers, except that they're laughing as well.		2015 Directed by: Paul Feig Screenplay by: Paul Feig Starring: Melissa McCarthy, Jude Law, Rose Byrne, and Jason Statham

Results: Movie Review

Good characters don't get much of a story to tell.

Set at a gym, Results is occasionally funny, sometimes interesting, but it's paper-thin plot means there's nothing to drive the film forward and the film has relatively little to say as it goes next to nowhere. It's the characters that form the story for the movie, and they are well-crafted characters, you just wish they had more to say or do. It's also not set at a gym, it just introduces the characters there.		2015 Directed by: Andrew Bujalski Screenplay by: Andrew Bujalski Starring: Kevin Corrigan, Cobie Smulders, and Guy Pearce