Ted 2

By: Robert Murphy

More than a few eyebrows were raised way back when the original Ted first received its shining moment. The foul mouthed little bear though charmed viewers like myself and others I’m sure with his humor, love of pot and his strong friendship to his best friend John (Mark Wahlberg). Now Ted returns to the screen once again but faces a whole new world of issues after getting married to his long time girlfriend Tami-Lynn (Jessica Barth) and spending a year together in white trash bliss until it starts to fall apart. Naturally the solution is to have a baby to love and use it to ignore the bigger issues in the twos marriage. This is easier said than done given the fact that Ted isn’t exactly anatomically correct and technically isn’t what you define as human and therefore isn’t due human rights.

The overall premise for Ted 2 struck me as a truly unique one, sure it is obvious that Ted is not a human but he is still a being capable of thoughts, emotions and the ability to throw an apple really hard at jogger’s heads with deadly precision. His relationship with John was the true cornerstone of the first movie and proved without a shadow of a doubt that he is more than just what he appears to be and deserve more respect than what he gets. Enter Samuel L. Jackson (Amanda Seyfried) and no she doesn’t say motherfu#$%@ at all during the movie (bummer) but she does believe in Ted’s cause and will do anything to help him get his rights as a human being. Seyfried was an excellent addition to replace the absent Mila Kunis although her absence was surely missed even with Sam’s exploits in the courtroom and her compatible romance with the now divorced John. Mila’s absence could have been explained in a far different way than it is presented in the story, it seems things just didn’t work out and she tried to change John, but no amount of explanation can change the events of the first Ted movie and how it stinks that she isn’t still around.

This brings us back to John who takes a back seat this time around while Ted takes the main stage with his own issues. I don’t believe the issue lies with Wahlburg for why I didn’t enjoy his story this time around rather I just don’t think John fit well in the background after having much of the focus in the first film. Ted himself isn’t bad but like my issue with A Million Ways to Die in the West where I just didn’t think Seth MacFarlane has what it takes to be a main character, even if he is a talking teddy bear. John sulks over the loss of Lori (Kunis) for the first half of the story which is understandable after spending six years together but at a certain point you need to buck up because there is a time jump of over a year in the story. John’s solution comes with Sam who again does a brilliant job as the pothead lawyer and makes a perfect fit for the duo despite her lacking knowledge of movies and television shows.

The biggest risk that didn’t pay off for Ted 2 is two fold, one is with it’s attempt to rehash old jokes from the original movie and the second is the overstocked cast of celebrities brought in for bit parts. Among the few returning cast members was Patrick Warburton as Guy who continues his escapades after finding out he was secretly gay but this time around he more or less just makes bad jokes about it which came off as distasteful. There is also the return of Donny (Giovanni Ribisi) whose comeback revolved around a rehashed kidnapping scene with some slight variations but it felt like an ultimately pointless addition to what was going on. As for the new characters, Liam Neeson makes a brief appearance as a grocery store customer who is concerned about buying Trixs cereal because he isn’t a kid, an event which I expected to bear some meaning later on but never paid off. There are a few others but my main issue with all of these escapades was the fact that they felt like one off jokes that had no tie ins to the story whatsoever. They were basically like Peter Griffin cutaways and were completely redundant to the story and really furthered the slow uneven pacing for the whole story.

This isn’t to say that some of the jokes in Ted 2 are not new or the fact that some of the new actors did not do well. Perhaps my favorite but small running gags had to be how the internet is filled with a certain black male appendage and how you are never more than two clicks away from it. There was also the horribly funny discovery of John’s recent porn history and how most of his hard drive space was probably porn which was categorized perfectly, right down to the odd little kinks as well. Then there is perhaps the smallest but most influential addition to the story, powerful Civil Rights lawyer Patrick Meigan (Morgan Freeman) who steps in to help Ted win his case when things look bleak. Not that Sam does a bad job at it at all but Patrick brings things home with a compelling speech on what it means to be human and what defines it.

I’m a little torn when it comes to Ted 2 because of the moments where I truly laughed at the ridiculous exploits of Ted, Sam and John. The threes chemistry was perhaps even better than the one that Ted and John had with Lori but the bromance between the two is still going strong. However, the overall story was so disjointed and full of the classic Seth MacFarlane one off moments that he has used throughout his shows that I find myself not enjoying the experience as much as the first Ted which balanced a great story as well as good comedic moments.

Good:

- The new rude and crewd jokes hit their mark

- Ted and John are still one of the best movie pairs

- Some good returning characters and great new ones like Seyfried

Bad:

- An overall disjointed story

- Ted is not a compelling main character

- The better portion of jokes and returning moments are redone bits of the first film

Scully Rating: 5.0 out of 10

The Gambler

By: Robert Murphy 

Putting it all on the line and gambling away my hard earned cash has never been an idea that never really appealed to me, the odds never looked favorable to me so I've stayed clear of gambling. Jim Bennett (Mark Wahlberg) doesn't seem to share this fear though and after a touching goodbye from his grandfather in the opening scenes for The Gambler, he runs off to try his luck with a fresh ten grand in his pocket. It seems for him, the thrill of betting it all appeals to him more than the average gambler out there but with debts to every loan guy around, you would think he'd take the money and run. This isn't the case though as Jim will dig himself further and further into debt and his own grave if he doesn't turn things around. The cocky smile that is constantly strewn across Mr.Bennett's face for the entirety of the movie makes me think that there is much more going on then there actually is. 

It would turn out that Mark Wahlberg's cocky demeanor for the entire movie would prove to be the downfall of his character as a whole. You would expect a man who has powerful people threatening to kill him at every turn and even laying out some plastic sheets like a scene right out of Dexter to be the tiniest bit frightened for his life but Jim never really seems to care. You could say that he has a death wish but that's not really the case, even though he spots off to his would be killers, powerful and intimidating Frank (John Goodman), gangster turned loan sharking/entrepreneur Neville Baraka (Michael Kenneth Williams) and Mister Lee (Alvin Ing). This isn't the case though because about halfway through The Gambler you learn what Jim is all about and that is the fact that beating the odds and creating that magical black jack hit come real is as close to something real that he has ever felt. In fact, his powerful speech to his would be girlfriend, Amy (Brie Larson), was probably the one moment I enjoyed his character because it's the only part that actually felt real to me. The rest of the time his character, as I said, runs around pushing everyone's buttons like a little kid in a grocery store. He never seems to be in any real danger throughout the whole shabang and with a drama about being indebted to powerful people and fighting for your life, shouldn't you feel something close to an adrenaline rush while watching?  

Scenes that did get my blood pumping were the moments spent away from Bennett's lack of concern for his own well being and others around him. The trio of loan sharking big wigs I mentioned before were particularly some of the best. Michael Williams playing the guy who wants to get out of this life of beating people senseless and illegal activity does a great job and changing Bennett's attitude at every turn. He is responsible for the Dexter scene I mention earlier. Alvin Ing also plays the role of the elderly underground casino boss that has been around the block more than a dozen times and is someone you won't want to disappoint when a loan payment comes knocking, his icy stare and overtones making you think just that. John Goodman was particularly enjoyable, his first meeting with Jim would leave any man demoralized at the terms he sets out for his loan and pretty much says what we're all thinking about Jim as a character, he's scum. Later on, Goodman's go fuck yourself speech left me in stitches, it was like listening to the speech from Team America World Police as it turns the f-word into a work of art. All three do a great job and also put Wahlberg's character to shame as they pretty much upstage his performance whenever he is on screen with one of them. 

Near the end of The Gambler, you will see Bennett's plan finally start to take shape a little bit at a time. The whole thing revolves around him borrowing money from each of the bosses one more time and betting it all big time and start clean. This, of course, doesn't get your blood pumping any more than watching him widdle away whatever money comes his way. Even the 240,000 dollars he receives from his mother, Roberta (Jessica Lange), an event which frankly made me wanna tear my hair out and punch the guy in the face but Lange practically does that for me and you. Bennett though is able to get his big pay out and be set free from all of his debts, a momentous occasion that causes him to run out into the night and reenacting a scene from Rocky as he trained for the fight. Why he didn't just pay off his debts with the money from his mother I'll never know, maybe he wanted one last "fooled you all" moment but if that's the case it wasn't presented very well. 

In the end, The Gambler is a rather poor effort at a drama, there literally is NONE to begin with anyways. Bennett spends most of the film running around town not giving a damn about what's happening around him, the fact that he is a liberal arts teacher at a college making it all worse as he spots out philosophical gibberish to the viewers and his class. Supporting characters such as John Goodman, Jessica Lange and Michael Kenneth Williams steal the show with their performances but you need more than what you get from them to save a movie like this. 

Good:

- Goodman, Lange and the other supporting actors 

- Some funny dialogue, John Goodman's speech in particular

Bad:

- Mark Wahlberg's Bennett is cocky and does not make you feel any sense of danger or intrigue for his situation

- The lack of any sort of drama for the situations is very apparent 

- The played out literary teacher angle

Scully Rating: 3.0 out of 10  

Transformers: Age of Extinction

By: Robert Murphy

Three hours long! Yes I do believe that was one of the many thoughts that went through my mind as I watched the end credits role on the newest entry into the Transformers saga. Micheal Bay is back to direct and start thing anew with the franchise and you know what I was happy to think about the chance for a change of pace. No, I am not going to bash Bay for his work because say what you will I enjoy most of his movies, that may be shameful to some but it isn't for me and Transformers was a great film when I first watched it but things did go downhill. The hopes that this film would start something new for the franchise also met with a quick decent for me as well as Transformers: Age of Extinction took already shaky ground and made it collapse. 

For such an exceedingly long film you would expect there to be a tiniest inclination of a story but you would be wrong about that as the story and the characters on screen jump from one laughable interaction to the next. The story takes place a few years after the events of the last film, Dark of the Moon, and shows a much darker and more secretive United States as we took the events of Chicago very hard. I also mentioned to my friends at how much of a dick move it was for the Autobots to pretend to leave, have thousands of people die and prove the point that we need them to survive. A black ops division of the CIA now is hunting down the remaining Autobots and is led by the not so menacing Harold Attinger (Kelsey Grammer). His plans for all the dead robots is so very sad that it is hard to even write but he intends to build a robot army to defend the United States against it's laundry list of enemies.

We then turn our attentions to our hero Cade Yeager (Mark Wahlberg) who is a down on his luck robotics mechanic who is raising his teenage daughter Tez (Nicola Peltz) and is a bit of an over bearing father type. He is desperatly trying to send her to college but everything is working against him but lets drop all that and save the world because it just so happens there's a semi truck in an old theater Cade just happens to be fixing up. Between the insane logic behind Cade reviving Optimus Prime with some jumper cables and the oh so stressing young daughter trying to go to college and having a secret boyfriend, it becomes a tired mess of cliches. 

Now what usually saves a Transformers film for me at this point would be the action but even this proved to be a sour note for the film too. I wasn't at all dazzled by the idea in which the movie tries to re-write history and saying that the aliens caused the dinosaurs to die out and new robot ones took on the form of some of the more iconic of them such as the T-Rex. I was even less impressed when they joined into the final fights and Optimus came in at the very end to save the day astride one of these creatures like some hero in a western. This however is where a lot of the film got it's attention and it shows, the over the top action was meant to wow and amaze you to try and distract you from the complete absence of a plot for the movie. 

In conclusion, I believe that Transformers has lost sight of what it is doing and it is never more present than with this attempt to try and start fresh. Transformers: Age of Extinction proves to be just what the title implies, it is going extinct but it will undoubtedly make enough for the two more movies that are ready to follow it up. I wish that directors would realize how not so serious of a story that there needs to be with a movie like this and go back to the way it was with the first movie. People may enjoy the plethora of over the top stunts and effects you will see but honestly there won't be much else for you to spend your money on, sorry Optimus. 

Good:

- Creates a spectical for the audience, which means "Oooo look big fights, lots of explosions"

- T.J. Miller provides some laughs and kept me going

Bad:

- Absence of story 

- Exceedingly long film

- For the most part all very poor plot for the main characters

- The new robot dinosaurs were a waste of time and special effects budget

Scully Rating: 3.5 out of 10 

2 Guns

By Robert Murphy

Hey everybody, it’s off to the movies to find out if I wasted ten dollars on a box office bust or not and with 2 Guns I was definitely on the fence on whether or not I’d be getting my money’s worth out of the deal but I was pleasantly surprised with what I found. For starters, what drew me into the movie in the first place was the two lead actors that we had to enjoy, both Mark Wahlberg and Denzel Washington have consistently hit their mark on the films they have been in and 2 Guns was no different. The two are put together in a buddy cop/buddy pretend drug dealer action movie, exchanging not only gun fire along the way but also quick witted blows at one another that strike the funny bone just right. But the best part is that the two don’t even know that they are each undercover agents working towards the same goal. Denzel Washington takes on the role of Bobby Trench, a DEA agent with a swagger and flare of the rat pack era about him and Mark Wahlberg plays Marcus Stigman, a Navy Seal officer who has a cocky, bad boy attitude to him that fits him all too well.

Hey what’s not to love about these two

What follows on screen is a series of double crossings, after the two decide to knock over a bank that ends up carrying way more money than it should have had in it and the two quickly realize that they have been set up and that they are both not who they are pretending to be. So what does anybody do in this kind of situation, dust themselves off and decide to team up and find out just who and why they were set up in the first place.  The two proceed to go back to their individual bosses, crossing over from the Mexican border where they were working on taking down a cocaine kingpin, played by Edward James Olmos. This dusty back drop in Mexico makes for an almost old era vibe where everyone carried a gun and there were legendary sure shots all around that could shoot wings off of a fly and all that jazz. This gets a modern update obviously as Washington and Wahlberg track down their betrayers while showing off some pretty crazy action scenes such as Wahlberg’s character one shotting a helicopter pilot while its flying through the air for example. This being an issue I found with the movie but then again action movies have that hard to believe affect a lot of the times that you just have to get over and just enjoy the epicness of no matter how impossible it may be.

So things went according to plan then?

Washington and Wahlberg have never been better as I’ve said, they honestly are what bumps up this otherwise average, opposites attract, buddy cop, action film. Washington takes on more of an eased back character as opposed to the serious roles he’s taken part in lately and he performs perfectly to the task while at the same time maintaining a gruff demeanor to who he trusts in his life. Then we Wahlberg, who always plays a bit of spunky and full of energy kind of character and that doesn’t change here for as soon as the two decide to work together, Wahlberg becomes a kid in a candy store jumping for joy to have his buddy back. What sets 2 Guns apart from other butt kicking duo movie you might ask, that is that the story has a great plot and features plenty of double crossing, back stabbing goodness that separates the film from just being another action film or buddy comedy. I can’t dig too much though into all the double crossing, mainly because I don’t want to spoil it for the rest of you, you’ll just have to see that for yourself.

I don’t know, it’s nice but is there any good schools near by

Bottom line is I was pleasantly surprised with the experience that I had with 2 Guns, not only was there lots of laughs and action but the story didn’t get lost in all of that, there were enjoyable plot twists and double crossings along the way and brought the action and laughs along with it. This comes together with an all-star cast of characters, Mark Wahlberg and Denzel Washington are on their A game as anyone would expect. The two are what drew me into the movie and I am so happy that they did because they worked so well together, bouncing back and forth off of each other with smart mouthed jabs from Mark and the don’t mess with me attitude of Washington. There are those eye brow raising moments in 2 Guns as I said but it is an action movie and they do tend to happen time and again and often times the ridiculous and awesome stunts are what we all love. In the wake of all the so-so movies I have seen this year, 2 Guns was just what I needed to see to keep what little faith there is to be had in Hollywood lately.

Good:

-Great lead characters, Wahlberg and Washington made a great pair and were perfect for the parts

-The plot twists weren’t shocking but still were much better than I expected from the movie

-Plenty of laughs and action that were balanced perfectly with the story

Bad:

-The questionable action moments, like really questionable

Scully Rating: 8.8 out of 10