Quick Movie Review: Spy (2015)

Many of us aren't yet sure about Melissa McCarthy. But one thing we all know is that she shines gloriously in any film directed by Paul Feig (a la "Bridesmaids" and "The Heat"). He knows her strengths and weaknesses, and allows her to play the straight-man.

In Spy, she plays Susan Cooper, a CIA analyst who spends all of her time behind a computer monitor, acting as the eye-in-the-sky for lead agent, Bradley Fine (Jude Law), as he goes out in the field. But after Fine is compromised and a terrorist group hacks into a list of the CIA's agents, Cooper's director (Allison Janney) assigns her to go out into the field since she is unrecognizable.

Susan is an overweight, bubbly, cat-lady-looking lady with no fieldwork experience, and everyone doubts her abilities--including agent Rick Ford (Jason Statham) who doesn't get nearly enough screen time as he provides us with some of the film's best scenes.

Of course, one of the main themes here is "proving everyone wrong"--a subtext that comes off as a little too forceful at times. Everyone in the film mocks McCarthy's character and makes fun of her weight and her looks. This is effective to an extent if done properly, but the characters exploit every chance they have to belittle her, and the constant defamation really starts to get old about halfway through the movie.

But this film gives us an almost perfect blend of comedy and action, and doesn't sacrifice one for the other. There seems to be so much effort placed in making sure that the action sequences are well-done, and it shows.

On the comedy side of things, Feig often seems to go for a little more disorder that it comes off as inconsistent, but it's just evident of his range.

And as seamless as the film is, perhaps its biggest downfall is that every time a protagonist is about to die, someone on their team conveniently shows up to save them. It's expected to happen, but not to the extent that it is in this film.

It's not a perfect film, but it's just about there. It may not break into new territory, however it's a very solid movie in both genres. The cast is excellent. McCarthy is superb. Spy has definitely moved into her top 3 films. And guess what the other two are.

Twizard Rating: 88

Quick Movie Review: St. Vincent (2014)

St. Vincent is a very enjoyable movie. It has its faults, but it's easy to like. It has a likable cast all around, and only seems flawed when you overanalyze it.

There is some wavering in the depth of Vincent, with his innate traits shifting ever so slightly throughout the movie. Not developing, but wavering. Where the director wants him to be a unpleasant, he's unpleasant. Where the director wants him to be desperate and lost, he's desperate and lost, but when he wants Vincent to be confident and responsible, he's confident and responsible. Maybe it says something about the depth of the character, but I personally think that it's a small flaw in the script. It's not enough to dock it a lot of points, but it offsets the overall tone of the film slightly.

But in the end you realize that this movie says more about the Oliver's empathy and ability to see beauty in the beast. He sees this and wants to share to everyone who Vincent is so that they see him like Oliver sees him. It's touching and sentimental, but a little manipulative on the director's part. But I suppose that any sort of complaining regarding this would be too nitpicky--even for me. All this stuff doesn't make the movie less-than-good, it just makes it not perfect.

The finale is when this film really draws you in and you have no choice to surrender your emotions towards this man who is being honored. Although he hasn't changed, you've changed and you learn to ultimately love him.

Overall, it satisfies our needs and succeeds at its goal of making us give those who are ugly on the outside the benefit of the doubt. It's a good movie.

Twizard Rating: 88

Quick Movie Review: Tammy

Although Melissa McCarthy's schtick can get played out at times in this film, the script isn't completely terrible--the movie's just not as funny as I had expected. While the story is intriguing, there's just a ton of huge comedic droughts. And there may be one or two isolated scenes of laugh-out-loud humor, but it wasn't consistent enough for this to be the self-proclaimed comedy that it persists to be. Don't get me wrong, it tried to be funny, but the jokes often landed flat. I suppose it may have relied a little TOO much on McCarthy's improv rather than well-written jokes.

Susan Sarandon is a big highlight of this film and she really shows a different side of her acting--so much so that you forget that it's even her. And the relationship with her character and Tammy is also really captivating as it operates, at times, as a pseudo-character study. And although the character development wasn't completely apparent, it was still there under all the irreverence. But overall none of it was really enough for me to go out of my way to watch it again.

Twizard Rating: 70