Sausage Party (August 2016)

Official Australian release date: 11/8/16. Viewed: 16/8/16.

Director: Greg Tiernan & Conrad Vernon

Actors: Seth Rogen, Kristen Wiig, Michael Cera, Edward Norton

Genre: Comedy

Rating: MA

‘Sausage Party’ is… well, just plain nuts! Probably the best description is “absurd”. It’s certainly unique, being the first ‘adult’ GCI film (not just a cartoon like the ‘South Park’ movie) and it does all it can to push the boundaries of making sure you remember it’s not a kids film (even though it starts with a song), with so many swear words, racial stereotypes, sexual innuendo and drugs in the first 30min that you can’t forget it’s a Seth Rogen film. Frank (the sausage, Rogen) and his girlfriend Brenda (the bun, Wiig) can’t wait to get out of their packages and be united in the “Great Beyond” outside the supermarket.

When Barry (Cera) and Carl (Hill), Frank’s sausage buddies, are bought and find out the truth of what happens to food, they try to return to warn the others. The voice actors are great – Sammy (bagel, Norton), Lavash (Krumholtz), Teresa (taco, Hayek), Douche (Kroll), Firewater (Hader), Grits (Robinson), Honey mustard (McBride). It’s part road trip, part action/‘Die Hard’ and part stoner rom-com. The “human world” vs “food world” distinction is done well, with faded colour vs vibrancy. Some of Rogen’s almost-sermons on not following the religious crap you’re fed without proof is good, but the anti-religion message is lost in the chaos.

It’s not as uproarious as I was hoping – it’s certainly funny and has a lot of chuckles, but there wasn’t many truly hilarious moments for me. Part of that is my expectations being too high – I’ve been waiting for this film for three years and it’s nowhere near as good as ‘Knocked Up’, ‘Superbad’ or ‘Pineapple Express’. Some of the best bits are the morbid/violent bits, not necessarily the dialogue. The last 20min or so didn't really work for me - a bit too much. There’s so much going on and so many things to look at and listen to that some jokes are lost or skipped over.

Overall: Crazy – in a mostly good way.

Gav's Rating: 3 stars.

Bad Moms (August 2016)

Official Australian release date: 11/8/16. Viewed: 14/8/16.

Director: Jon Lucas & Scott Moore

Actors: Mila Kunis, Kathryn Hahn, Kristen Bell, Christina Applegate

Genre: Comedy

Rating: MA

‘Bad Moms’ (not sure why the spelling wasn’t changed in Australia, like ‘Bad Neighbours’ was – lazy work, distributors) is a straightforward comedy, delivering what it should – easy laughs with not much seriousness. The irony is that the film was written and directed by two men… Amy (Kunis – the standout star here) is a mother of two, juggling all the chores and school drop-offs with a job and a disintegrating marriage. She semi-loses it when Gwendolyn (Applegate), the uptight PTA president, pushes her too far and challenges for the PTA leadership so all the mums have less stress and things to worry about in their lives.

Kiki (Bell) is good as the repressed mother of four, but single mum Carla (Hahn) really steals the show, with her attitude and wisecracks. The montage when they go to the shops on their first night out together is gold. The other cast get some time, but not much, so it’s really these three vs Applegate. The kids are good, but don’t have much impact either.

The soundtrack’s crap, but there’s a message in here somewhere. It’s not that raunchy or dirty – except for a few moments – but does have way more laughs than I was expecting. Kunis is funny, sensitive, looks exceptional and carries the film. The end credits have the stars and their real-life mums reminiscing on couches – surprisingly touching.

Overall: Light and breezy fun.

Gav's Rating: 3.5 stars.

Suicide Squad (August 2016)

Official Australian release date: 4/8/16. Viewed: 4/8/16.

Director: David Ayer

Actors: Will Smith, Margot Robbie, Joel Kinnaman, Viola Davis

Genre: Action / Comedy

Rating: M

‘Suicide Squad’ is on par with ‘Batman v Superman’ (if you didn’t mind that, you won’t mind this and if you hated that, you probably won’t like this either) and the film acts as its sequel and a stop-gap until ‘Justice League’ comes out next year. It’s also DC trying to compete with Marvel’s ‘Deadpool’ which was MA and about an antihero who kills people – although this is only rated M. Still, a few people are killed and there’s plenty of violence, but it probably has more in common with ‘Ghostbusters’ than ‘Deadpool’.

The film does a great job of introducing the characters in the first 20min, with everyone getting their own song and “profile”, and each of them gets a bit of backstory as the film progresses – Deadshot (Smith, an assassin), Harley Quinn (Robbie, Joker’s girlfriend, in those amazing “pants”), Joker (Leto, with his metal teeth making him sound a little like Ledger), Boomerang (Courtney, doing his best Tom Hardy in ‘The Revenant’ impression), Diablo (Hernandez, pretty much Human Torch), Killer Croc (Akinnuoye-Agbaje) and Enchantress (Delevingene, a witch). There should’ve been more of how Batman (Affleck) put them all in prison, but he only gets 2min screentime, and the Joker not much more – obviously setting up a Joker v Batman film somewhere down the line. Waller (Davis) is the true villain and she manipulates well to get this “team” together and “controlled” by Flag (Kinnaman) to go on a rescue mission, that soon turns into a suicide mission.

The main issue is the “ultimate” bad guy is one of them – Enchantress. She creates a swirling vortex-thing that we’ve seen a million times and they have to stop her. The problem is the same for all superhero films – why not call in the rest of the heroes? In this case, where are Batman, Wonder Woman and The Flash? The tone is sometimes light and funny, but then gloomy and “we’re still the bad guys and are still probably going to die” the next. It doesn’t ruin the film, but sometimes makes it hard to read. The soundtrack is great throughout and often keeps the tone fun. The action and fight scenes are done well, but the film probably outstays it’s welcome by 10min. No one, even Smith, hogs too much screentime and it definitely doesn’t always work, but is a mostly fun ride.

Overall: Not a bad comic book movie.

Gav's Rating: 3.5 stars.