Get Hard 2015 6 out of 10

Get Hard 2015 6 out of 10

Get Hard has a fun premise and two great comedians.  Will Ferrell  plays a millionaire named James King that is going to be sent to prison for fraud.  Being a rich out of touch white guy Will Ferrell just assumes that Darnell (  Kevin Hart ) has spent time in prison.  He hires him to train him to survive prison and Kevin Hart's character takes the job because the money is too good to pass up.

Like many modern comedians this film has some really funny moments as Kevin Hart attempts to put Will Ferrell's clueless character through a ridiculous prison training camp.  The two actors have good chemistry together which leads to some fun comic moments.  The issue holding this film back from being a better film is the plot itself.  It is obvious from early in the film that Will Ferrell's character is being set up to take the fall and that he is clearly innocent.  It is also clear that at some point later in the film the story will turn from a story about training him for prison to uncovering who framed him to clear his name.   Unfortunately the movie spends about 5/6 of the time showing the ill advised prison training and uncovering that he was framed is basically plugged into the end of the film almost as if it was an after thought.   

My suggestion is that if you are a fan of either Will Ferrell or Kevin Hart than enjoy the film for the comic moments between the two actors.   Just don't expect anything for the story itself.

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Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle 2017 8+ out of 10

Jumanji Welcome to the Jungle 2017  8+ out of 10

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle was a surprise box office hit of the holiday season.   When I first heard they were doing a new Jumanji I wasn't confident that they would get it right.   The original Jumanji starred Robin Williams and is concerned a classic.   Would a Reboot/Remake go over well in 2017?  Apparently the answer to that question was a hug yes.    Jumanji crushed at the box office coming  out shortly after The Last Jedi and holding surprisingly well for weeks into 2018. The film ended up grossing over 900 Million Worldwide.

How they got it right:
1. Jumanji wasn't really a remake it was a sequel.  I'm glad they went this route with the film.  The original film lends itself to sequels and it is surprising that one wasn't made sooner.  A sequel of sorts was made by John Favreau 2005 with the film Zathura that was based on a book by the same author of Jumanji.  It wasn't a direct sequel but the themes and stories were the same with an outer space theme replacing the jungle setting.  This Jumanji movie starts out with the board game from the original and mentions characters from the original and has visual references or Easter eggs from the first film.

2. They took the sequel in an interesting new direction.  The original movie featured the board game that when you play it the spaces on the board game that you land on come to life.  The sequel puts a spin on that when the magical board game turns itself into a video game to entice the new character that finds in 1996.   Then a group of 4 different high school students that are basically like The Breakfast Club get detention and stumble across the game.  It magically transports them into a video game version of Jumanji.  It also  involves body switching in a clever way that turns the high school kids into completely different characters.

3. The cast works surprisingly well together.   The Rock and Kevin Hart had already demonstrated their own screen chemistry in a previous film.   I'm not normally a fan of Jack Black.  In fact several of the worst movies I've seen over the last decade were Jack  Black films.  Jack Black played as a hot selfie crazy popular girl stuck in Jack Black's body withing the game worked great.  Karen Gillian as the Ally Sheedy character turned bad ass skilled in dance fighting in the game was terrific as well.  She rounded out the cast with a great sense of humor, especially when she is trying to be sexy which she played to comic effect.

4. The story of the movie was solid and entertaining.  It is basically a video game that the characters have to navigate.  Working together and completing tasks to get to the end of the game before they run out of lives.  This allowed you to have the characters randomly die in funny ways.  Jack Black is standing next to the river and giving a speech and ends up getting Deep Blue Sea'd.   Kevin Hart's character has "cake" as a weakness.  He eats the cake and blow up. 

Jumanji is a great, fun entertaining family film that is sure to get another sequel based on the box office results.

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Ride Along 2014 7 out of 10

Ride Along 2014  7 out of 10

Ride Along was about exactly what you expect itwould be.  It was a good comedy with both Ice Cube as the hardened cop and Kevin Hart as the nervous (soon to be rookie) that is dating his sister.   Both actors did a good job playing the same type of characters they are used to playing.   As a buddy cop film the movie works and the two actors have a good contentious chemistry.  I enjoyed both actors performances and thought the movie had some good funny scenes.  Ice Cube's character basically takes Kevin Hart on a Ride Along to try and scare him away from being a cop and proposing to his sister.  He sets a bunch of crazy situations where Kevin Hart's character will fail--while still trying to investigate some big undercover case he has been working on.

Where the movie fails a bit is in how totally predictable the plot was. You can see the supposed twist coming from a mile and a half away.  This movie came out the same year as Let's Be Cops --which had a fresh and new take on a cop movie.   By comparison this movies big scenes just weren't big enough and funny enough.

My advice is if you like Ice Cube and Kevin Hart you will enjoy this film--since they are exactly the characters you would expect them to be....just don't expect anything special as far as the story goes.

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Central Intelligence 2016 7 out of 10

Central Intelligence 2016  7 out of 10

Central Intelligence is a good buddy cop adventure starring Kevin Hart (playing himself as always) and Dwayne the Rock Johnson.   The plot is silly and The Rock's character (despite being kick ass is odd throughout the film, which was a strange choice.  They almost lead you to believe he is faking how his character is a first---but it turns out that isn't the case.

A 20 year reunion is approaching and an old class mate know back in the day as  Geeky Outsider named Fat Rob contacts Kevin Hart's character who was the ultimate athlete student back in the day for a drink.    The flashback to The Rock singing in Fat makeup is probably the best part of the flick.   I think and entire movie with Fat Rock would have made a better film    Anyway.....Fat Rob is now kick ass Rock a CIA Agent gone Rogue and unknowingly enlists the help of his old classmate.  The two end up embroiled in CIA Espionage situation situation.    The movie has some good action sequences and chemistry between The Rock and Kevin Hart clicks.   The movie had some funny moments.  The Rock  even in a odd character role) can make any action movie enjoyable.   

(Spoilers)

The weak point of the movie was the attempt to try and convince the viewer that The Rock may be the bad guy after all....This red herring just never works and as much as they try the viewer never really buys into this angle.   The Rock is too likeable in the the film for the viewer to want to buy into that and so the tension you are supposed to feel in certain scenes isn't really there.    I loved the references to Sixteen Candles which is supposedly The Rock's characters favorite flick.

A decent buddy cop film worth a rental.

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