Goat

This drama is chilling to the bone, especially because cases and situations like this are regular fare on college campuses today. I found myself wincing and covering my mouth in horror for much of this film. It portrays the concept of "toxic masculinity" perfectly and really gets across how travesties like this are fueled and why they happen. It's an important film, one that all young people should really see. I feel this very dark film is up there with "Kids" and "Bully" as films that may make the viewer very uncomfortable but are must-sees. Rent this, and prepare to be really disturbed. 4.5/5

Goat on Netflix

Everybody Wants Some

I tend to hate 80s parody comedies (case in point "Wet Hot American Summer"), so I was bracing to not like this. However, it wasn't a parody at all, but a real comedy that embraced and was set faithfully in 1980. The plot was engaging, the acting was really solid by an ensemble I wasn't familiar with, and it was both witty and dramatic in equal measure. I really enjoyed this, and I recommend it 4/5

Everybody Wants Some on Netflix

The Brothers Grimsby

Oh dear gods I hated this so much. It is honestly one of the stupidest and most unfunny comedies I've ever seen in my life. Just vulgarity for no real point and utterly absurd. I realize this might be right up some people's alley, but it definitely wasn't up mine. I can't believe I finished it honestly. Awful. 1/5

The Brothers Grimsby on Netflix

Wetlands

I have no earthly idea how this German sex comedy wound up on my queue, but it was completely strange and utterly fun. I found myself cringing in disbelief quite a bit, but, even though it had it's gross moments, it also had heart and depth and a soul to it. Carla Juri was wonderful in the lead as well. I'm surprised I liked this a lot, but I did. 3.5/5

Wetlands on Netflix

Sausage Party

This movie had its moments. There were some really funny things, and a lot of the voice acting was really quite good. However, in an effort to be like "South Park: The Movie" this film tried to push the envelope as far as it could. Unlike "South Park", they largely failed. This is just crudeness for crudeness' sake, and the thin plot didn't really support it all. I wanted to like this more, but I ended up rolling my eyes as much as I laughed, so it was just okay for me. 3/5

Sausage Party on Netflix

Knock Knock

I think Eli Roth lost it some years back. I can't remember the last time he made a movie with a coherent plot and a meaningful story line. This movie falls apart when the change occurs a half hour in. Without saying much, Keanu Reeve's character simply wouldn't do what he did. It's not in the character that we meet a the beginning of the film. Furthermore, even had he done what he did, what happens over the last half hour of the film makes anything he did pale in comparison. I'm sorry, but I'm not buying what Roth is selling here. Yeah, maybe people eat free pizza, but it's not really the same thing, is it? Add to this that Keanu did his usually terrible acting job, and this was over before it started. 2.5/5

Knock Knock on Netflix

The Bronze

Long time readers of this blog will know that I have precious little patience for crude comedies as they often are raunchy simply for the sake of being so. It was with great trepidation that I rented this, feeling it would fall squarely into this category, but, since the Duplass brothers' backed it, I thought I would give it a try. Boy, am I glad I did, because this was genuinely hilarious and full of heart. Melissa Rauch of Big Bang Theory fame wrote and stared in this, and her script was absolutely on point. Her characters were well rounded, her language only as crude as it needed to be, and her plot well thought out. I was really impressed by this and I truly hope Rauch makes more films - she has a gift for it. Very well done! 4/5

The Bronze on Netflix

Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead: The Story of the National Lampoon

An excellent and informative documentary about the rise and fall of the National Lampoon. I hadn't known much at all about it before this, so it was a treat for me. 4/5

Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead: The Story of the National Lampoon on Netflix

Ted 2

The first "Ted" film was funny, had a plot-line that made sense, and characters that maintained an arc throughout the film. This sequel made little to no sense, had characters that fell apart, and no real cohesive plot to speak of. It was too much like "Freddy Got Fingered" for me. Not good. 2.5/5

Ted 2 on Netflix

Ted

Alright, I'm going long here, so bear with me. Faithful readers of this blog will know that I have no time for raunchy, absurdist humor that has no grounding to it. Don't get me wrong, I love adult humor, but, if it isn't balanced or grounded in some way it feels like a monkey desperately hurling shit at a wall just to see what kind of pattern it makes. It feels cloying and desperate to me, like someone trying to buy humor with mere shock value. I've taken films to task for this in the past, and I levied the same criticisms at "Deadpool", which I saw earlier today. "Ted" is not such a film. Yes, it has a very absurdist and very raunchy humor to it, but it worked so very well because MacFarlane spent so much time crafting his world. "Ted" takes it's absurd premise and makes it seem so real and delivers it's humor is such a beautifully deadpan way that it succeeds where so many before it have failed. The comic structure of the film is sheer perfection, as is the delivery of the material. The acting was amazing, which I never thought I'd say for Wahlberg. THIS IS HOW YOU DO THIS KIND OF HUMOR PEOPLE. Live it, learn it, love it. A perfect comedy, the best I've seen in a long time. 5/5

Ted on Netflix

Trainwreck

In many ways this dark-edged comedy is a big step forward for Apatow. I feel Apatow has been treading water for a time and tends to fall back too frequently on his raunchier words rather than relying on his actors to deliver the complex, dark, and yet wickedly funny adult stories he's so good at telling. I like Apatow best when he's dealing with real adults having real problems which can take absurd or raunchy turns. I feel as if he sat down and watched some of the more daring and successful black comedies of like like "Problem Child" and "The Skeleton Twins" before he made this, and I thought the realness matched the adult nature of the comedy well. On another note, this was my first experience with Amy Schumer, and I enjoyed her work immensely. However, the funniest thing in this whole film was John Cena. That.... that was pure comedic gold. All in all, great work from Apatow and Schumer. 4/5

Trainwreck on Netflix

Magic Mike XXL

 If we're being real, "Magic Mike XXL" doesn't have as solid a plot as the first film. Hell, it barely has a plot at all. But that doesn't matter, because it's just so much fun. It's worth the price of admission to see Channing Tatum hang with Twitch. Amazeballs. 4/5

Magic Mike XXL on Netflix

Unfinished Business

What a terrible, awful, unfunny mess this is. No sense of character or wit or timing at all. Hated it. 1.5/5

Unfinished Business on Netflix

nbt: Never Been Thawed

This mockumentary is genuinely funny & different with interesting characters & irreverent humor. 4/5

nbt: Never Been Thawed on Netflix

Greg Behrendt: Is That Guy from That Thing

Not as side-splittingly funny as "Uncool" but still pretty damn good stand-up. 4/5

Greg Behrendt: Is That Guy from That Thing on Netflix

I'm So Excited

This Almodovar comedy is quite raunchy & funny, a real farcical delight of a film. I'm becoming a fan. 3.5/5

I'm So Excited on Netflix

Horrible Bosses 2

Like the first film, surprisingly LOL funny with great chemistry between the actors. I really love these. 4/5

Horrible Bosses 2 on Netflix

Freddy Got Fingered

I read an article not long ago urging people who had seen Tom Green's big screen debut when it was first released and didn't like it to give it another shot, that it really was a work of genius. And as I was a huge Tom Green fan, I decided to do just that. It's just as bad as I remembered. Save yourself the 90 minutes, it's exactly how you have it in your mind. 2/5

Freddy Got Fingered on Netflix

Ghost Team One

Totally not for me, I really don't do this kind of humor. If you're a frat kid then totally, but not for me. 1.5/5

Ghost Team One on Netflix

Jeff Dunham's Very Special Christmas Special

Not one of his best, but still very funny. Peanut kills me every time. 3/5

Jeff Dunham's Very Special Christmas Special on Netflix