Hail, Caesar!
What The Hail???
Official Website | Trailers & Mo
PG-13 | 106 min

You sit there watching the Coen Bros‘ Hail, Caesar!, and you think to yourself – this is cool – they love old Hollywood, I love old Hollywood, they’re totally doing right by old Hollywood, and as the movie snappily moves along, you start to realize that nothing is really going on, and you’ve laughed MAYBE twice during this comedy, and by the time that Joel & Ethan’s name appear on screen to kick off the end credits, you start to question what in the film is there to actually hail?

It seems like the Coen Bros invested more time on casting, or OVER-casting (Josh Brolin, George Clooney, Alden Ehrenreich, Ralph Fiennes, Jonah Hill, Scarlett Johansson, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, Channing Tatum, Alison Pill, Christopher Lambert, Fred Melamed, Patrick Fischler, David Krumholtz, Fisher Stevens, Alex Karpovsky, Clancy Brown, Robert Picardo, Dolph Lundgren and Michael Gambon‘s voice), than they did trying to construct a fluid movie.  They have ideas – WAY too many of them - and they’d maybe work if they were short films, but together as one long film – it’s juss a bunch of loving valentines with no heart

What I don’t REALLY understand, like I also didn’t REALLY understand with Inside Llewyn Davis, is if this stuff is based on real–life stuff, then why do the Coen Bros bother to fictionalize it into fluff?  They would be better off actually making a movie about the real players, instead of trying to impress us with their impressions.  It’s a waste of their talents, and a waste of our time

I mean, they obviously put a lot of thought into the movie, but I juss didn’t think too much of it.  Less is more.  They needed less of most of it, and more Alden Ehrenreich.  He gets a hail + the sets + Josh Brolin’s tuff gruff + the double dip of Tilda Swinton

Trumbo captured a similar time and themes in Hollywood, but it lacked the professional polish the Coen Bros gave Caesar.  Maybe the Coen Bros should have made Trumbo, instead of trying to make a movie that makes you feel like a sad trombone after watching it

Hail YEAH!!: it’s been awhile since we highlighted some movie hotties.  so here’s two that need hailing!!!

Natasha Bassett

&

Emily Beecham

Verdictgo: Sum Merit But No Stinkin Badgers

Caesar is a mixed salad today at a theater near jews

and until next thyme the balcony is clothed…

forgot to review this one, ooops…

In A World…
Voice Over-Under
Official Website | Trailers & Mo
R | 93 min

This Lake Bell movie about voice acting was pretty good.  Nothing really fancy, juss lightly funny fluff stuff, and mainly gets by on its smiley cast.  + there aren’t nearly enuff movies with Fred Melamed as a lead.  The end!

Verdictgo: Jeepers Worth A Peepers

World voices off, still, in limited release

and until next thyme the balcony is clothed…

The Dictator
Autocratic For The People
Official Website | Trailers & Mo
R | 83 min

We’re Sacha Baron Cohen fan #1, or somewhere close to it.  (Along with Ricky Gervais,) we believe Sacha to be one of the funniest people alive.  If you’ve delved into Da Ali G Show, cackled endlessly via Borat, or squirmed thru Brüno, you have to agree.  If you don’t, you don’t know what funny is.  Truly, you don’t.  Those films and da-t TV show were masterpieces of the highest kind because they were mainly unscripted moments that oozed hilarity with almost too much ease

So what happens when SBC goes all scripted (with help from three Curb & Seinfeld writers + Larry Charles back on board as SBC’s director)?  Not nearly as genius (how could it be!!), but anything not nearly as genius as the most genius of genius is pretty f#%king good, no?  Yep, The Dictator is pretty f#%king good.  It’s scripted Borat by way of Gaddafi’s Wikipedia page

Do you want to know the story?  You don’t need to, but it’s like You Don’t Mess with the Zohan, but actually funny, cause this isn’t an Adam Sandler movie, it’s a Sacha Baron Cohen movie.  This is what the world needs more of, but can SBC keep it up?  We’d love to see him try, cause his tries make everyone else’s comedic tries look like stick on a crap.  It’s true, cause most comedies are awful and have something to do with Judd Apatow

The supporting trio of Anna Faris, Ben Kingsley and Jason Mantzoukas do some very solid work, playing mostly straight (wo)men to the Supreme Leader, but the supporting doesn’t end with them.  This flick’s overloaded with comic talent, so much so, that some of dem folks don’t even get anything funny to do.  Normal boring roles here aren’t played by normal boring actors, but by the likes of Chris Parnell, Chris Elliott, Fred Melamed, JB Smoove, and Nasim Pedrad, to name a few.  But at the end of the day, it’s all about SBC, as it should be

moral of the story – do you like Sacha Baron Cohen?  good, go see The Dictator.  it’s not like Scott Rudin produces comedies every day!!!

She’s No Leo: spank gawd for that!!

Dominique DiCaprio!!!

Verdictgo: very high end Jeepers Worth A Peepers

Dictator dictates laughter at a theater near jews tomorrow

and until next thyme the balcony is clothed…