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What Men Want

I could hardly remember seeing the previews for this movie, but when I saw it was released into theaters, I vaguely remembered that the previews were fairly funny.

This is one of the funniest movies I have seen

PLOT: This movie is all about Ali Davis, a hard-working, successful woman working in a sports publicity management agency, a male dominant field. She is hoping to get a promotion to “partner” at the agency, and will do whatever it takes. She wants to figure out what men think, because she is surrounded by men in her life and thinks that being able to know what they are thinking will give her the key to receiving the promotion. After a lot of drugs, getting bonked on the head, and some other crazy mishaps, Ali gets the ability to read men’s minds. But would you really want to hear every single man around you’s inner thoughts? I don’t think so. The rest of the movie is how Ali controls this so called power she has to read every thought every man has. And how her work life, romantic life, and her friend life (if that’s even a term) changes because of this power.

This movie is DEFINITELY Rated-R for language, sexual content, drugs and alcohol. But this is the funniest movie there is. I am all for R-Rated comedies, but they can definitely be a hit or miss. They either have too much vulgar language and drugs that cover the humor or the movie just isn’t funny at all. But this movie, it was DEFINITELY a hit. It was not so inappropriate to the point where it wasn’t funny, but it was just inappropriate enough to be the funniest movie of the year thus far

CAST: Now Taraji P Henson, Ali Davis, is hilarious, but when has she not been something any less than perfection? She is incredible. She is such an empowering woman (as anyone could tell from her performance in Hidden Figures) and she definitely shows that side of her in this film as well.

I was extremely please with Pete Davidson’s appearance as Danny. I have always been a Pete Davidson fan, so his surprise appearance was very pleasing. He had a fairly small supporting role, but he is his typical goofy self and I was not disappointed.

Austin Jon Moore  was definitely a show stopper as Will’s 5-year-old son Ben. He is absolutely precious and is also very comedic. 10/10 will fall in love with him during the movie.

Honorable Mentions: Aldis Hodge as Will is an absolute hunk and is precious, hubby goals. Tracy Morgan as Joe “Dolla” Barry is ridiculously funny as usual. And Wendi McLendon Covey as Olivia is also her incredibly hilarious self.

This whole cast was extremely strong with comedians, and they all meshed perfectly together. This movie is extremely successful in every aspect in which it tries to be. I definitely left the movie feeling extremely good about the ending and a belly-ache from laughing so hard.

MESSAGE: This movie has so many good messages in it, the first being that men are trash (unless you’re Will) just kidding! But honestly, it really spreads an incredible message about female empowerment. Being the only woman around in her line of work, Ali is always faced with gender biases and treated as lesser. But instead of letting that stop her and discourage her, she works harder to prove men wrong, and SMALL SPOILER, she comes out not as an equal to the men at her work, but above them. She truly shows how strong, courageous, and hardworking women can be and are.

I would advise you ladies not to go see this movie with your significant other, as they will definitely feel exposed. This movie is so accurate and that’s what makes it so hilarious. This is definitely a girl’s night kind of movie (not a family movie for sure!)

But I more than recommend this movie, I actually insist on you seeing it. It is incredible and hilarious. Oh wait, did I mention it was funny?

RATING: 93%

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Ralph Breaks the Internet

Since Wreck it Ralph came out six years ago, it has been one of my favorite Disney movies ever created. So you can imagine how happy I was to see a sequel was being created! I’m extremely surprised that this movie wasn’t talked about more after its release date, I really loved it.

Sequels are usually a hit or miss, this one definitely was not a miss. Although I am still biased toward the first Wreck it Ralph, I would still call Ralph breaks the Internet a hit!

So of course, all of the characters were the same as before- Wreck it Ralph, Vanellope Von Schweets, Fix it Felix, and all of the other fun arcade characters! One of my favorite things about the movie was all of the new characters- mainly all of the Disney princesses. The princesses were DEFINITELY the highlight of the movie for me at least! I loved getting to see all of these princesses in the Vanellope Von Schweets kind of light! By that I mean that they were not the perfect princesses that Disney has always made them out to be! They are HUMAN! I think this is an AMAZING message to send young girls! The princesses weren’t in their perfect dresses with their perfect hair do’s for the whole movie! It showed them in t-shirts, drinking coffee, and acting like normal human beings! I love that girls can have THAT as their role models! I love that this helps little girls realize that they actually CAN be princesses like Vanellope! You can love racing, you can sing, you can sleep for a hundred years and STILL be a princess, because being a princess means being confident and staying true to yourself, not having a rich daddy or living in a castle!

Of course there were other messages in this movie, Ralph Breaks the Internet, but this one takes the cake. I love how real this movie is- of course not animation wise- but the messages they send! A lot of the movie’s message is about the friendship between Vanellope and Ralph. It’s not all daisies and roses! They fight, a lot! They have differences, a lot of them, but they work them out and stay friends- even when the distance gets hard! Why? Because that’s what friendship is all about! Making compromises! And no matter what life throws at you, loving your friend! I love that message!

I also love how they enter every aspect of the Internet into the movie! From social media to viral cat videos to cyber bullying to advertisements to viruses, it hits it all! It didn’t sugar coat anything on the internet! It told it how it truly is! This is a really good star to a conversation to a child that is curious about the internet!

Now Wreck it Ralph is better that Ralph Breaks the Internet (why it isn’t called Ralph Wrecks the Internet… I don’t know, but I’m a little disappointed), BUT I still believe this is a must see for children for the messages themselves! This is a must see movie in 2018/2019 and you won’t be disappointed. There are not that many family movies currently out or coming out soon, so this is perfect!

I don’t really know how to rate this one, due to comparison to the other movie. The animation was great, as always, the message was phenomenal, loved the story line, but I just loved the originality of Wreck it Ralph more! Also minus a couple percentage points due to the horrible name choice!

But I love this movie and your whole family will too!

RATING: 88%

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You can’t remake a classic, right? Wrong! Although this was not my favorite movie of the year by any means,

This was the best version of The Grinch I have seen

So I’m guessing that we ALL know the classic “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” storyline. This movie is no different, the only thing it added (or only major addition) was adding the reindeer, Fred, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I also enjoyed that the Grinch wasn’t quite as mean and horrid as he typically is written to be. Don’t get me wrong, he was definitely mean, but before he has a change of heart (sorry if that was a spoiler, haha) he shows moments of having a heart!

This movie is exactly what you would expect it to be. I as a millennial teenager, didn’t laugh too hard at this movie. I thought the entire movie was cute, sweet, and I maybe gave a few chuckles here and there, but nothing that made me laugh out loud. Now my friend that I went with was laughing her socks off, along with my mother who was still laughing about scenes in the movie the next day. So maybe it’s that I have a completely different sense of humor, but I did enjoy myself during the movie.

CHARACTERS: I already mentioned some of them already, but I’ll talk about them a little deeper.

The Grinch: I really enjoyed the character, not too mean (other than the grocery store scene, if you know, you know), but still was true to the character. The baby Grinch was absolutely adorable and the older grinch had the same sense of humor that you would expect. But I really enjoyed the minor changes they made to the Grinch’s personality.

Max: The Grinch’s side kick and best friends was as cute as always! I love Max in the animations much better than the live versions, because he is able to have better facial expressions and more of a personality, rather than just a side kick, typical dog. Max was cute, and I enjoyed that he stood his ground to the Grinch and didn’t take anything from him, but was still the sweet and loving best friend that would do anything for the Grinch.

Cindy-Lou Who: I really love how Cindy-Lou was portrayed in this version. Cindy-Lou wasn’t just the quite, petite, cute little girl. In this version, Cindy-Lou was a little more of a tomboy, or at least much less of a girly girl. She was extremely adventurous and wasn’t afraid to get her hands dirty to get what she wanted, which was also precious in itself.

Fred: Fred was the newest addition to The Grinch story. Fred was the very large reindeer whom the Grinch found to hopefully guide his sleigh. Fred becomes close to both the Grinch and Max become very close to. Fred is silly and very sweet and very comedic, even though he can’t speak. I thought he was a perfect addition to this classic story.

The animation was as incredible as always for a Sony Production. I always look for the hair in animation to see how it moves when the characters move and how it moves in the wind. The Grinch is a hairy character and I was just absolutely infatuated with his fur throughout the entirety of the movie. The whole movie was nothing less than perfect speaking in terms of animation.

I very much enjoyed myself at this movie, and you and your whole family will too. This is a great movie for the holiday, considering the lack of them that will be coming out this holiday season, and it’s the perfect addition for the whole family in all of you holiday festivities. This was by no means the best movie of the year, but it is definitely one of the best family movies of the year.

RATING: 68%

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Instant Family

I was a little torn while debating what genre this movie was prior to seeing it. I had no clue what to expect between a comedy or a sob story drama, but it wan’t quite either. I of course would lean it more toward a comedy, as apparently that is what it was intended to be.

Whatever genre this movie was, it’s a hit.

I’m going to start with the cast, because that is more than likely the sole reason I loved this movie so much, along with the perfect story-line, script, and the rest of the movie.

CAST:

Mark Wahlberg as Pete: Mark Wahlberg was already one of my favorite actors of all time, but this movie only made me fall in love with him more. He shows both his loving father side, as he does in every other movie he’s in, but also shows his absolute knee-slapping hilarious side. He makes this movie what it is, I wouldn’t doubt that this role was written specifically for him, he is absolutely incredible, but what’s new?

Rose Byrne as Ellie: Who else would play a mom in a comedy? Her character is the exact same as her role in the Neighbors movies, except a lot more appropriate. She shows her loving, nurturing mom side along with her comedic side along with Wahlberg. The two are the perfect comedy couple in every way and I absolutely loved Rose in this role of the over the top, slightly confused, comedic, and perfect mom.

Isabela Moner as Lizzy:  Lizzy’s character was written to be fairly unlikeable, only because of what all she and her siblings have been through in the system. Moner plays Lizzy with all of the right emotions at the right time. Although Lizzy definitely was not my favorite character, Moner was perfect casting.

Julianna Gamiz as Lita: Gamiz is an absolute STAR! Lita was definitely my favorite character in this movie. The role was definitely written for a cute and funny kid, and Gamiz is exactly that. Her comedic timing is impeccable and she is as cute as can be.

Honorable Mentions: Of course Octavia Spencer as Karen was hilarious as always. Gustavo Quiroz as Juan, the third child, was extremely funny and sweet.

PLOT:  If you hadn’t heard about this movie, it is about a couple that decides that they want to home and maybe adopt a foster child. They decide that they want to adopt a teenager, without knowing that she comes with two siblings. The rest of the movie is about the struggles they face while housing the foster children, getting to know them, debating whether or not they want to adopt, and all of the rest of the struggles they faced throughout the whole process. As I previously said, it is a comedy mixed with a little drama and it is done so well.

This movie was incredibly eye-opening to how hard it is to go through the foster adoption process. Also to how many children are in foster care and how many struggles they have to face daily. I’ve known some parents that have tried to adopt their foster children and I never realized how hard it must be! This is an incredible movie to go see with the family, especially during the holidays to really focus on how blessed and thankful we all are!

This movie is rated PG-13, but for language. So if your 10-12 year old is mature enough to handle the language, go see it with them. I loved this movie, I loved that it made me laugh, I loved that it made me cry, I love Mark Wahlberg, and I love what this movie stands for. This is definitely a must-see in theaters for the year!

RATING: 90%

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Night School

This was a classic, feel-good comedy for the whole family to enjoy. I was extremely excited about seeing this movie for quite some time. After it’s release, I have heard some incredibly mixed reviews. Some think it’s the funniest movie they have ever seen, and some think it was an absolute bust for Kevin Hart. Well I’m somewhere in between.

This movie has some incredibly funny moments and Kevin Hart is undoubtedly hilarious, as always. This story was cute, but it didn’t leave me wow’d by any means. With the hilarious previews, I was hoping this movie would be much more consistently funny and a better plot line than it was, but it did not live up to those expectations.

I think this movie is much better suited for younger teens and the less mature crowd. A lot of the comedy is toward that crowd– which of course, some will stick and make the older crowd die laughing, but even my 12 year-old sisters thought it was the best and funniest movie they have ever seen. I think this movie will definitely have better reviews from a younger crowd, even though it is rated PG-13.

PLOT Teddy, Kevin Hart, is a high-school drop out, but has an incredible job that allows him to make himself, seemingly, as an upper-class man. He has an extremely pretty high-class girlfriend, Lisa, played by Megalyn Echikunwoke. Teddy loses his job and needs to seem like he still has a lot of money, but he cannot get a new job without his GED. This whole story is about Teddy’s journey in going to night school at his old high school while trying to keep his lower-class, high school dropout self a secret from his long-term girlfriend, Lisa.

CAST If this movie didn’t have an outstanding cast, like it did, it would have been a bigger bust than it has been said that it was.

Kevin Hart as Teddy Walker– Come on now, can any Kevin Hart movie really be a bust? This movie is, of course, all about Kevin Hart.  He has his classic comedy and this movie was obviously written for him. If you are a Kevin Hart fan, you will definitely enjoy this movie more than the average movie-goer.

Tiffany Haddish as Carrie- I don’t know if any of you are Tiffany Haddish fans, but I have been a fan of Tiffany since her appearance in That’s So Raven as Charolette. Tiffany is the strict, kind, and hilarious night school teacher that helps whip Teddy into shape. Her back-and-fourth banter between herself and Kevin Hart is what brings the most hilarity to the movie. Everyone in this movie is scared of her, but in the funniest way. We get to see a lot of sides to the character, Carrie, and Tiffany Haddish fits the gig for every layer of her.

Taran Killam as Stewart- Another star that I have been a fan of for a long time, since he was on The Amanda Show. I love Taran Killam, especially his name. In this movie he plays a much different role, rather than his typical comedy, SNL type character. He plays the principal that seems to have a stick up his rear.  He has some very funny moments, but not in the same way as the other characters. I think Killam played this role very well considering how much it differed from his other famous roles.

Honorable Mentions: Rob Riggle as Mackenzie was a standout with his character’s dumb personality and goofiness. Romany Malco as Julian played a man paranoid about the illuminati and everyone around him, who was possibly the funniest character in this movie. Mary Lynn Rajskub as Theresa played a seemingly conservative mom that hated her life, but had an extremely edgy side to her. These three only  made the movie just THAT more funny than it already was with three strong, well-known leads.

I enjoyed myself at this movie, by no means was I bored or wishing the movie was over. I think this is a great film for the whole family to go enjoy together this fall. Don’t believe all of the reviews saying how horrible this movie was. It will make you laugh and it will make you have a good feeling when you leave the theatre. I mean, really, can you go wrong with a Kevin Hart movie night? I don’t think so.

RATING: 64%

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Small Foot

This was such a cute and fun movie, and was incredibly better than what was expected from the previews. It’s a fun movie with a great message for the whole family.

This movie reminded me of a mix between Frozen and The Lorax, which are both incredible films. I had no clue from the previews that this movie would fit in the musical theatre movie genre. I was fairly impressed with the soundtrack and the songs are pretty catchy, just like the Lorax.

STANDOUTS: First off, this movie is FILLED with an incredibly well-know cast, so this movie was already set up for success. With leading voices of:

  • Channing Tatum as Migo: As the main yeti in this movie, Tatum genuinely surprised me. I have never noticed Channing Tatum to be a successful voice actor, but he has done his small share of voice acting recently with The Book of Life, The Lego Movies, and the Simpsons. Who knew that Channing Tatum could sing? I don’t know if this was a known fact, but Channing Tatum is definitely a triple (counting voice actor, quadruple) threat with his acting, dancing, and now public talent of singing.
  • James Corden as Percy: As the main human in this movie, I don’t think there could have been a better actor to voice this part. We all knew Corden could sing, but he adds nothing but perfection to the creation of this movie.
  • Zendaya as Meechee: Zendaya has been the talk of the town for a couple years now, and I don’t doubt her presence in this movie gained a lot of attention from teens that would probably not have seen it otherwise. Her voice has always been so pure and fit the script in the perfect ways it should.

This movie also included stars such as: Common, Lebron James, Danny DeVito, my personal favorite, Gina Rodriguez, Ely Henry, and Yara Shahidi.

I don’t think this movie would have done as well in the box office without this cast to draw in the crowd, but this celebrity heavy cast did make for an extremely successful movie.

MESSAGE: This movie was full of really good messages for today’s time, with messages regarding greed and segregation. It was incredible how this film used yetis vs. humans to truly describe how humans treat each other based on how they look. That’s a really important message for today. SPOILER at the end of the movie the yetis and humans finally learn to live together in peace instead of being afraid of one another and I thought the movie could have, most definitely, ended before that and been well off, but it truly made my heart happy seeing them come together. SPOILER ENDED

I thought the idea of this movie was very clever, as the movie would have still worked if it were about humans featuring yetis, as other movies would have. But the thought and ideas behind this movie is what sets it apart from other animations. I loved the idea, I thought the movie was hilarious, and so did my mom. I’m not one to laugh at kid’s jokes or just anything thrown my way, it takes a lot to make me laugh, but this movie did, indeed make me laugh.

My absolute favorite parts about this film was the intricacy of the animation. As we have noticed in other movies and behind the scenes of movies such as Monster’s Inc, it is very difficult to animate hair to sway and move like it would in real life. This entire movie is about hairy yetis and this movie NAILS it! From standing still to running the hair on the yetis moves in the wind in such methodically thought out ways and it looks so aesthetically pleasing and PERFECT for this movie.

I loved the entire  movie from the cast to the music to the storyline to the ending, I loved it and if this movie was created by Disney, I feel like this movie would have been just as big of a hit as movies like Coco and Zootopia. I could definitely see the plush dolls and toys made. But since it is not a Disney film, I will just have to be content with how much I enjoyed the film and everyone in it. I highly recommend this movie for all ages, from the little ones to grown adults. It is definitely a family movie that the WHOLE FAMILY truly needs to see!

RATING: 80%

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Viral Beauty

“Marsha Day was looking for a date. She got a million subscribers instead.”

This movie is FILLED with mixed-emotions all around. It hits some uncomfortable topics, and DOES IT WELL! This movie was made perfectly at the right time; WE NEED THIS FILM! And I’ll tell you why…

PLOT SUMMARY: Marsha Day, played by Casey Killoran, posts a video on a dating website, looking for a high-end, ambitious, Ivy League grad, and of course, must be approved by her beloved cat, Mr. Kittsy . Once Perez Hilton, as himself, brings attention to her video, Marsha’s video goes viral, getting millions of views. There are, of course, contradicting views on Marsha, from supporters to online trolls bullying Marsha about her weight and how she looks, Marsha receives a ton of media coverage and is picked up by a management agency. Marsha is bound by her management to sponsorships and certain things to say in her web videos. Marsha meets a cute, Dartmouth grad, fitness trainer online named Will, played by Mark Junek, and they immediately hit it off. The rest of the story is about Marsha’s life once she got famous and how people across the world treat her differently.

ENDING (no spoilers): This ending is anything but what would be expected of a movie like this, but it’s exactly how it would’ve in the real world. The movie takes a complete 180 and I sat there wondering, is that really the end? It has an ending that really makes you re-evaluate your life and what’s truly important to you.

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This movie gets right to the point at the beginning of the movie, no dilly-dallying on unnecessary background. NO! This movie is FULL of content and continues to go go go until the credits start rolling.

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WHAT’S THE POINT? Viral beauty hits all of the REAL LIFE topics that we MUST start paying attention to in our world, as social media and money continue to become so important to people.  Let’s start with bullying, cyberbullying or the typical face to face bullying.

  • This is a problem, and this has been a problem since the beginning of time! When are people going to understand that ALL PEOPLE HAVE REAL FEELINGS?! Viral Beauty hits that point, that bullying is a problem, no matter how old you are! Marsha is a grown woman, and people all over the world were blatantly bullying her, physically and verbally abusing her when they saw her in person, and even telling her that she should die. But what this movie has done better than any other movie I’ve seen is that Marsha didn’t flinch. We can tell that Marsha gets upset at these comment, obviously who wouldn’t, but she doesn’t let it break her or stop her. In my opinion, Marsha was the winner in every argument that people online were giving her, because she DIDN’T RESPOND! She stayed strong throughout the movie, despite how much absolute hate she was getting.

Next let’s talk about social media, fame and money– what is an up and coming problem in society.

  • This movie is all about social media, obviously hints the name “Viral Beauty.” It emphasizes how much importance we have placed on our fame on social media in our society. We get so caught up in what everyone is doing on social media, judging and voicing our opinions about people online is a second nature that is a horrible habit! We watch people on social media and our first response is to judge them for what we don’t like rather than celebrating others for what we do like about them!
  • Next let’s talk about fame. There are a couple of cases in this movie that people let fame get to their head in more ways than one. W also get to see how people will do anything for fame, and that’s truly how society is today.
  • Then talking about money, we truly get to see the evilness of money throughout this film. As people in today’s society, we seem to put gaining money or being successful over truly being happy. Viral Beauty hits every point of that. Is it really worth it to have a lot of money if your not happy? I don’t know but Marsha sure seems to have an opinion for herself.

Casey Killoran, Marsha, truly plays her role to the T and is fantastic along with the rest of the cast doing an equally amazing job. This story was well written, phenomenally casted, and an incredibly interesting movie to watch. You’ll laugh, cry, and probably get a little upset somewhere in between. This movie- I would rate it as a PG13, it’s appropriate in my opinion for any mature teen. I think teens HAVE to see this movie to see how our real world is right now. This movie is so important and I enjoyed every minute watching it.

RATING: 71%

You can buy your tickets at either of these links, this movie is going to be released on October 19th

http://bit.ly/ViralBeautyFandango

bit.ly/ViralBeautyTickets

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Crazy Rich Asians

With this movie being #1 in the box office for so long, you would think that it has gotta be pretty dang good. And this movie is just that. Pretty dang good.

With rich culture and hilarious actors, this movie was unstoppable. This story is about Rachel Chu, played by Constance Wu, and Nick Young’s, played by Henry Golding, quickly growing relationship. He asks her to come to his hometown in Singapore. Little did she know, his family is the richest family in Singapore and her serious boyfriend of one year is LOADED.

PLOT SUMMARY: When the two are in Singapore, which is the large majority of the movie, Rachel tries to learn more about Nick’s culture and more about her own Asian culture. Considering Rachel grew up in America, although she can speak Mandarin, she is not like the rest of Nick’s family and struggles fitting in. With many tosses and turns of Nick’s mother, Eleanor Young, not approving of Rachel, Rachel being the talk of the city, basically everyone being against Rachel and Nick’s relationship, and Rachel having to continually try to fit into Nick’s culture and wealthy lifestyle, Rachel has a rough time.

SPOILER!! After Mrs. Young, played by Michelle Yeoh, rips Rachel to shreds and tells her the truth about Rachel’s family history: Rachel’s mother had an affair and moved to America to have Rachel, because Rachel was not her mother’s husband’s child.  Rachel was never told this and always believed her father had died before she was born. This broke Rachel.  Mrs. Young had hired detectives to find a reason that Nick shouldn’t marry Rachel, and she found it– the Young family could not be associated with a scandal like this! Rachel even declined Nick’s proposal that he gave in defiance of his mother.

SPOILER CONT!!  What I left out is how intelligent Rachel is. She is an economics professor at NYU. She beats Mrs. Young in a game of Mahjong while alluding to her intelligence in a speech that she gives Mrs. Young. Then, Nick proposes to Rachel again on the plane to America that he surprises her on… but wait… with his MOTHER’s FAMILY ENGAGEMENT RING! Then the two get engaged and have a Big Fat Young-Style Wedding!

SPOILER OVER

STANDOUTS: As the leads of this movie were nothing less than perfect for their roles, there were some unsung, big-name heroes that definitely contributed to the hilarity of the movie.

Awkwafina: Starring as Peik Lin Goh, Rachel’s old roomate, this character was made for the rising star, Awkwafina. Awkwafina has definitely made a name for herself in the year of 2018 cinema with Netflix film: Dude, and box office hits: Crazy Rich Asians and  Ocean’s 8. In this movie, her character is the comic relief in every scene she’s in and plays a big role in keeping Rachel sane during this journey. Awkwafina makes Peik the best friend we always wished we had and more than simply contributes to the comedy factor of this movie.

Ken Jeong: Starring as Peik’s father, Wye Mun Goh, did I mention that the entire Goh family is hilarious? From making fun of Rachel, to making fun of his daughter, to making fun of himself, Ken Jeong is just as funny as you would expect. Ken Jeong is known for his hilarity and his one-liners in this movie do not disappoint.

Harry Shum Jr.: One of my favorite actors, Harry Shum Jr., former star on the hit TV show “Glee”, got very little air time but somehow still seemed to manage to be toward the top of the credits. Playing Charlie Wu, Harry Shum Jr. only makes an appearance in the last minutes of the movie, but his smiling face in this movie filled my heart with joy although I wished he had a bigger role in this movie.

Honorable Mentions: Nico Santos as Oliver T’sien, Calvin Wong at P.T. Goh, and Jimmy O. Yang as Bernard Tai also were huge contributors to what a big hit this movie truly was.

This movie’s rating is PG-13 for suggestive content and language, but I would highly recommend this movie to any mature pre-teen or  teenager.

This movie will make you laugh, cry, and everything in between. In all honesty I wasn’t expecting much from this movie before its release in theaters when it gained much recognition. I was not disappointed and this movie exceeded my expectations. This is definitely a must see for the family.

RATING: 87%

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The Spy Who Dumped Me

This movie was anything, but predictable and typical.

You think you’re going to see a fun, light-hearted action right? Wrong. This movie contains every possible genre that could be imagined, but in the best way. It’s filled with action, romance, tons of comedy, plot twists, and even death with some gore. Although this movie is Rated-R, due to language and gun violence, this movie is not inappropriate for any age of a mature teenager.

Now, how could a movie possibly hold all of these features, but still not be considered a “cheesy, over the top” movie? That would be compliments of the all-star women leads: Mila Kunis and Kate McKinnon. Their comedic timing, wit, and ability to act as having a strong- best friend relationship, makes it impossible not to love this strong women duo. As this movie is filled with honorable mentions: the creepy Ivanna Sakhno, the kind and sweet Sam Heughan, and the cute deceased boyfriend: Justin Theroux, Mila and Kate make every moment of the movie suspenseful, action-filled, heart (and gut) wrenching, and completely hilarious.

This plot was so well written with plot twists and action in nearly every scene. There isn’t one scene that was “boring” or “slow” throughout the entirety of the movie. The lead Audrey, Mila Kunis, has been dating a man she really liked, and he suddenly dumps her. She is then kidnapped by the C.I.A. and told that her ex-boyfriend, Drew, was a spy. They release her and soon after, Audrey and Morgan, Kate McKinnon, are targeted by spies for something that Audrey’s ex left with her. Drew talks to Audrey and explains that he dumped her to protect her, but she must deliver the trophy he left at her house to save millions of lives. The two women are determined to deliver the package and deem themselves spies on their own.

There isn’t much else I could say about the plot, because I would spoil something. The previews were perfectly vague enough to not make the movie predictable, yet perfectly detailed enough to make you want to go see it. This movie is a must see. It is definitely up there for my favorite movie of 2018, and definitely the best Rated-R movie I’ve seen this year.

RATING: 94%

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Hotel Transylvania 3

Let’s start out these reviews with a fun, loving kid’s cartoon threequel. I went to see this movie with my boyfriend, and I’ll start out be saying this is not just a children’s movie, this movie is incredibly enjoyable for all ages. With a celebrity heavy cast, the first movie of this trilogy was a hit before it even premiered. Adam Sandler as Dracula, as always, is knee-slapping hilarious, and you don’t need to see his face in order to laugh until your stomach hurts. Selena Gomez’s role of Mavis is kindly and perfectly voiced along with her funny boyfriend, Johnathan, voiced by Andy Sandburg. Other big names stars: Kevin James as Frankenstein, Mel Brooks as Vlad, Steve Buscemi as Wayne and special guest voices from Chrissy Teigen as Crystal and we get to Joe Jonas as the Kraken in the finale song, “I See Love”.

The best quality of a good cartoon trilogy is whether or not it is necessary to have seen the previous movies in order to enjoy the new one. In this case, it is absolutely not necessary to have seen Hotel Transylvania 1 or 2 in order for the 3rd to be enjoyable. They make a few jokes that refer to past movies such as the classic “Bleh Bleh Bleh” joke from Dracula, but all of the other jokes are fresh and have no prerequisites. This movie is filled with one-liners that make you laugh for minutes after they are said. Containing goofy kid jokes along with adult humor, this movie is a hit. Wayne and Wanda, the two werewolves in the movie have over 100 children or “pups” with the main pups being Adam Sandler’s children. Besides the point, Wayne and Wanda discover “child care” on the cruise ship and are able to leave their 100+ pups with the cruise ship workers, whom are fish. This is one of the many relatable jokes for the older crowd as they finally are able to enjoy themselves and release the burden of handling their children to the cruise ship fish for a while.

Here’s the SPOILER ALERT section. I would not say that this movie is the predictable cartoon ending at all. Dracula is feeling lonely, after years of the passing of his wife. Mavis, his daughter is attempting to cheer him up and relieve him from work stress by taking him on a surprise monster’s cruise. Ironically, the cruise director, Erika, who is by the way a human, is the great-granddaughter of Dracula’s archenemies, Abraham Van-Helsing. Erika plans to kill Dracula while he is on board the cruise ship in order to avenge the legacy of her family. Her great-grandfather devised a plan in order to kill all of the monsters, specifically Dracula, on board. Erika becomes eager to kill Dracula and makes many attempts, but none of them work because, Dracula falls in love with her. Dun Dun Dun. With her pleasing looks, her fake perfect and kind personality, mixed with Dracula’s undeniable feelings of loneliness, Dracula falls in love at first sight, or what monster’s call it, having a zing. The plan reaches the last step and Abraham V.H. is revealed to be on the ship. Abraham is near a cliff when blasting music causes him to fall off. As he is falling to his death, Dracula surprisingly turns into a bat in order to save his foe’s life. Both Abraham and Erika have a change of heart realizing that Dracula, along with all of the other monsters, aren’t too bad. Erika begins to take a liking to Dracula and despite having wanted to kill Dracula for the entirety of the movie, they become engaged. Happy ending!

The movie sends out a great message for all ages at this time: We’re all different, but what’s the point of acting as if we are? Dracula uses this as a way to explain why he saved his arch-nemesis’ life. He says that monster or human, it doesn’t matter. If we are all different, doesn’t that make us all the same? It’s a great message for the young kids to teach them to treat everyone kindly, no matter what they look like. This is also a very nice reminder to the older crowd, especially in our society today.

This movie is a hit, from the cast to the current and modern top 50 hits, to the fun and playful storyline. This third movie was exactly what all audiences were expecting and during its 2nd week it is number three in the box office. If you’re looking for a family movie to see and already saw The Incredibles 2, this is the movie for you.

RATING: 78%