Quick Movie Review: Whiskey Tango Foxtrot (2016)

I'm not sure I've seen a military comedy since Sgt. Bilko. Or maybe it was Operation Dumbo Drop. Nonetheless, this is a post-9/11 world. We just don't have the same levity with war like we used to. Especially when it comes to the war in Afghanistan. It's just something we don't do. But maybe it's time. Apparently it's time.

And who better for the role than Tina Fey? She plays Kim Baker, an American war correspondent who is sent to Afghanistan for a few months. A few months turn into a few years and she becomes an expert on everything Middle East. But as her life back in the states fades further into the past, she's realizing that Afghanistan is now her new home. We see her make this transition. It's one that's subtle, but felt by the end.

Fey is perfect for the lead. I honestly can't imagine anyone else who can just be as funny without being over-the-top and unrealistic. She gives us her same quirky and witty humor, but the film carries a much darker David Fincher-type of tone.

The jokes are never rapid fire, but always well-deserved. It makes the film more real. And that realistic tone places us in the mindset of the characters a bit easier.

Not too much about this film is cliche. Predictable, maybe, but not really cliche. Perhaps you can credit the source material which it's adapted from--an autobiographical novel entitled The Taliban Shuffle.

What I'm most impressed with is the balance of genre. Although it's a military comedy, it never feels like the film is pushing or pulling for one or the other. It's symbiotically both.

There's nothing obviously wrong with this film, in my opinion. I guess it may have failed to solve that "so what?" question for me, but it's still an entertaining watch. Maybe not one I would want to necessarily own on DVD. But that's not to say I wouldn't watch it again.

Twizard Rating: 84

Quick Movie Review: The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies (2014)

While the first Hobbit film doesn't feel like a story stretched too thin, the second film does a little bit. But the third film lets us figure out on our own how it could have been combined with the previous installment. However, it's a fairly entertaining stretched story. Even though the battle scenes were at ridiculous durations, I enjoyed watching them.

Smaug is a highlight. The movie's opening with him attacking the city is fantastic, but we don't see nearly enough of him. As someone who has not read the book, I wasn't aware that Golum wouldn't make an appearance--a realization that bummed me out because he's such a great character.

The last film of any series is exciting by nature, because we are anxious to see how they will conclude. However, for a small chunk of this film, between the two battles, we are bored. There is a lot of pre-battle setup which is easy to follow, but not easy to stay awake through. We are given a film that is sandwiched between two big battles. But at least they are both coherent and not just a big shaky-cam fest.

I wish to see a little more character depth--besides the internal conflict that Thorin goes through, which means nothing to the audience unless they strongly remember the events of the first two films.

At the end, I had to be reminded what all this was for. And once I remembered, I laughed--mostly because it seems like a whole lot of hassle for something that's not that big of a deal.

Realistically, I could watch these films over and over again without paying attention to the story because the visuals and the scenery are so amazing. You get lost in its world--an accomplishment in its own right.

Twizard Rating: 91