The Brothers Grimsby (2016)

Directed by Louis Leterrier
Written by Sacha Baron Cohen, Phil Johnston and Peter Baynham
Starring Sacha Baron Cohen, Mark Strong, Isla Fisher and Penélope Cruz

A hit man working for MI6 finds himself with a target on his back after his long lost brother ruins an attempt to save a politician causing the job to look like an agent gone rouge.

You know it's a slow week in movies when I decide to see this over any of the new releases. With the showing of a scene on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" as the main form of advertisement in which the only thing that could be televised was the reactions of the audience, I knew that this would be vulgar for the sake of vulgarity. And I was right.

What I did not anticipate was for me to be laughing that the absolute absurdity of the disgusting series of events that happened. It was portrayed in such a way that I couldn't help but laugh, even if brought shame to myself and my family.

With the impossible to watch (in my mind) "Borat" and "Bruno", I was glad to finally see Sacha Baron Cohen in  a movie in which playing tricks on people wasn't the whole premise. Knowing that everyone involved is in on the joke makes it so much easier to watch and finally laugh with Cohen instead of hiding in my jacket from anxiety caused by awkwardness.

With actors as serious as Mark Strong, Ian McShane and… well, that's about it. Anyway, seeing these actors not taking anything too seriously was refreshing to say the least. It was wildly inappropriate, a terribly executed movie, yet overall, I'd have to say I enjoyed it.

Especially with Donald Trump contracting HIV.

My Rating: 6/10

Set Fire to the Stars (2014)

Directed by Andy Goddard
Written by Andy Goddard and Celyn Jones
Starring Elijah Wood, Celyn Jones, Steve Mackintosh and Kelly Reilly

An aspiring poet in 1950s New York has his ordered world shaken when he embarks on a week-long retreat to save his hell raising hero, Dylan Thomas.

Based on a true story and filled with exerts from the poems of Dylan Thomas, this is one of the more beautifully written films I have seen. Unfortunately that is only because of the subject matter. In regards to the screenplay, it felt as though the writers would throw in a poem whenever they were out of ideas. They were, however, clever enough to make the poem being recited relevant to the scene.

It was apparent that the theme the director was trying to get across was feeling your emotions before you try to break them down and understand them. Being the life philosophy of Dylan Thomas (at least in this film), it attempted to explain why he would act out and had no filter. Rather than accomplishing this, it felt more like a cheap attempt to make this story that didn't really need to be told mean something.

The only real positive points about this movie are the poems, the reciting of said poems and the cinematography. Everything else just bored me. Had this been twenty minutes longer, I'm not sure if I could have finished it without taking a break. 

This movie has been getting very mixed reviews. The audience is almost perfectly split down the middle. So who know. You may love it. Check it out and let me know what you think.

My Rating: 5/10