Inside Out 2

Talking with Z & E, I was surprised to remember that the first of this movie came out in 2011. I did not see it in theaters, and I think I saw it a few years after its release. I remembered loving the first one and it definitely put me in my feels. Now that we got to a second one that has more emotions to make it more relatable, it sadly fell a bit from the original. I feel like the story followed the same path as the original, and not in a great way. We got away from headquarters and had to find our way back, with what I feel like was less ‘side quests’ to keep the story moving. With that being said, it is a good story and a great concept. This is a movie that will be extremely helpful I think for every kid growing up. It did fall a little short of the original, but it is still a great movie!

-J

This universe of Inside Out is a tough one for me. As much as I love animation in general, the animation aesthetic of Inside Out 2 is my least favorite. The colors and character’s visual design just doesn’t do anything for me. And that’s tough considering how ingenious the premise is, and how delicately they showcase the emotional development of a child. The sequel is certainly a re-hash of the first movie, with perhaps less care, but again, the lesson from this movie, on that all parents and children can greatly benefit from, that all emotions have their purpose and learning to give them all a healthy balance is so poignant and relevant that it’s still deserving of a watch.

-Z

Z 8.0
E 8.5
J 8.75

ZEJ 8.42

Hit Man

Glenn Powell season is here! Now due to hype, I was really excited for this film. I have a soft spot for good Rom-Coms, even though all of us at ZEJ would not agree. Recently I have become a Glenn Powell believer. I think that despite it being a cornier Netflix movie, the amount of costumes and fun situations they put Glenn in allowed us to see his acting range. Overall, this is an extremely fun movie, but I do think it moved too fast at times. My two biggest issues with this movie are its speed through plot and that the ending was terrible. I have been known to give flack to Z and E about overreacting to endings, but I have to be on their side on this one. In no way do I regret watching and actually this may be one of the most recommendable movies of the year for anyone I talk with.

-J

Hit Man subverts a lot of expectations. What I though was going to be yet another but welcome movie about a hit man was in fact about a … SPOILER … pretend hit man stuck in a rom com. And as a rom com, it’s pretty entertaining. The ending however, and for once, Jord agrees, RUINS this movie. They wrap the climactic ending up in a basically fairy-tale ending and it does a huge disservice to the rest of the movie. That said, the acting is excellent, and Glen Powell is the real deal. E was skeptical of Glen’s abilities going into this, but she came out a believer. He was great in Top Gun 2, Jord said he was great in Anyone but You and he was great in this. He shows a lot of range, both dramatic and comedic, and it makes me really look forward to Twisters.

-Z

Z 7.0
E 7.5
J 7.75

ZEJ 7.42

Bad Boys for Life

Now, it's crazy that 16 years have passed and we thought that we should make another but we did. Bye Michael Bay, and I think that does help the plot progression in some ways, but hurts it in others. Mike Lowry has gone from cool guy to this untouchable figure, and I really wasn’t about it. I did enjoy the give and take again from both WIll Smith and Martin Lawrence, and has to be really the only reason that these sequels can exist. I thought this story was easier to follow than the first two, but that also made it decently corny and predictable. This one and the first should be watched, the second one I would save some time!

-J

Z n/a
E n/a
J 7.5

~ZEJ 7.5

Bad Boys II

Now, I thought the first one was apparently Michael Bay, but holy cow, this one there is no way you wouldn’t know it. I think it did some fun things to expand both characters, but in a lot of ways it was just a ‘lets run this back’ kind of situation. Very similar give and take with some very similar action that is even more over the top. I didn’t think a second one was needed, and after watching it, I stand by my words. Overall, the Reggie bit is by far the best, the rest can be forgotten.

-J

Z n/a
E n/a
J 6.5

~ZEJ 6.5

Bad Boys

As I watched this film, I realized two things. The first thing is that I have never seen the original and secondly that it is a Michael Bay film. You realize really quickly that Michael Bay was all over this film. Now, I will say I am extremely surprised that there was a sequel after this… and then another… and then another. It is a weird movie to continue in my opinion, as I didn’t think it was phenomenal. I think the saving grace is that you have some amazing give and take from Will Smith and Martin Lawrence. Now, it is a product of its time, but I also think the story is unique in some ways, but mostly pretty cookie cutter. Overall if you haven’t seen it, it could be worth the watch.

-J

Z n/a
E n/a
J 7.5

~ZEJ 7.5

It’s Such a Beautiful Day (2012)

At its core, it has some really amazing animation. Now, I don’t know if I was ready for this movie to be as heavy as it is. An extremely somber movie, with some beautiful moments, but definitely need to be ready for what you are about to watch. It did get a little long, but I do think that is part of the story that is trying to be told. Technically, hard to say it isn’t a masterpiece, but for me, it is a tough watch.

-J

We watched this in a special screening that showed Don Hertzfeldt’s new animated short, ME, and then It’s Such a Beautiful Day. In between the two, Don Hertzfeldt apologized for what we were about to watch, calling It’s Such a Beautiful Day “exhausting”. And that has never been more true about a movie. It tells the story of Bill, who suffers from severe memory loss, from some kind of dementia or brain tumor, and while telling that story also simulates what it’s like to have said memory loss. Knowing absolutely zero information about this movie going into it except for the fact that many critics consider this one of the best animated movies ever made, I was not at all prepared for just how exhausting and depressing this was. Having three grandparents that suffered and succumbed to the horrors of dementia, this was a deep look into what may have been happening inside their minds. I cannot say I enjoyed what I saw or the exhausting ride I took. The animation was amazing, no doubt, and utterly unique, and it will certainly stick with me. In fact, I dreamt the night we watched this that I was Bill, and I was stuck in a kind of continual memory lapse loop as he was in the third act. That was a particular kind of nightmare. I can’t say I recommend this movie, but if you have been affected by someone suffering memory loss or are curious, it will be an exhausting illumination.

-Z

Z 8.0
E 8.5
J 8.5

ZEJ 8.33

Blue Mountain State: The Rise of Thadland

Now that the TV series Blue Mountain State is back on Netflix, I gave it a re-watch. Has it aged well, not really, is it still worth some laughs, absolutely. Now, after finishing its three seasons, I felt like I should watch the movie that they put out. It was… something. They really tried to hit a lot of nostalgia from the show, which is a little weird as they look a lot older but are still in college. Also, as it has aged like whole milk in some ways with the jokes and what BMS is on the whole. Though it was a bad movie, I did laugh and would watch another version of Blue Mountain State, so I guess I am the problem.

-J

Z n/a
E n/a
J 5.0

~ZEJ 5.0

Shrek

This is obviously a rewatch for me. As the Shrek series has been in theaters again, I have been thinking over the summer that I should watch them all again. I am a Dreamworks > Disney if you want to know, so I think Shrek is most likely my favorite animated movie ever, and has a good chance of staying there. The story is good, the jokes are funny, and the music is phenomenal. As we move on, I know some will argue the later ones are better, but they are not nearly as good in my opinion, but we will see through my rewatch if I keep that opinion. Overall, my favorite animated movie ever and always worth a rewatch!

-J

Z n/a
E n/a
J 10.0

~ZEJ 10.0

The Wrong Missy

Now, I would be lying if I didn’t say I laughed more than I should have, but I did. Now, just because it made me laugh doesn’t mean that it is a great movie. The jokes were good, but the story is extremely outlandish and a bit too silly at times for me. Tommy Boy is one of my favorite comedies of all time, so I enjoy watching David Spade movies. Now, I watched it because of him but I will say I fell in love with Lauren Lapkus. I hope as time goes on, we see her in more movies, and preferably better movies than this. Overall, if you are looking for a laugh, throw it on, but hold off if you are expecting what you would consider a ‘good movie.’

-J

Z n/a
E n/a
J 6.0

~ZEJ 6.0

Marcel the Shell with Shoes On

This is a rewatch for me, and I stand by my original rating, but it did cross my mind to maybe raise it. I think they nailed the movie that has to put you in a good mood. Maybe it's Marcel’s voice or the little random things they do, but I watch this with a smile glued to my face. The story goes deeper than expected, but this is a movie that I would say “has no business being as good as it is.” An old Youtube video series turned into a major motion picture, and it works fantastically. As time goes on, I am sure this is going to be a common rewatch when I am feeling a little down but can be watched anytime. I would recommend this to anyone, old or young!

-J

Z 8.5
E 8.0
J 8.5

~ZEJ 8.33

Vertigo

Why I chose to watch this…. No idea. I was looking at lists of old critically acclaimed movies and landed here. The premise is cool, and definitely gives you a very uneasy feeling as you watch. I will say my issues with the movie doesn’t come from its age, but how it seemed to drag. At times it almost seemed like you got 2 episodes to a TV show instead of a singular movie. That being said, you can see so many techniques and storytelling strategies that are still used today even though the movie is from 1958. I would recommend it to someone wanting to watch classics, but probably not one you need to run to Amazon Prime and watch.

-J

Z N/A
E N/A
J 8.75

~ZEJ 8.75

The LEGO Batman Movie

Now, I wasn’t expecting an obsession to be created off of watching this film. I could not tell you how pleasantly surprised I have been from a movie since Godzilla: Minus One. From the beginning I was laughing out loud and having a great time. The story is made for kids, but I thought it played very well to all audiences. Z is the one with a soft spot for all animation, but I have fallen under the Lego Spell. I will be watching the original Lego Movies now and hopefully looking forward to even more. A movie that reminds me of Shrek due to it being a kid movie, but very relatable to adults. If you have not seen it, I think you need to!

-J

Z N/A
E N/A
J 8.75

~ZEJ 8.75

The Greatest Game Ever Played

Golf, just an extremely riveting sport to most, but somehow some people seem to think it's boring. This is the first golf movie I have watched that does a really good job of making golf look ‘cool.’ I think it created some very electric moments that were cooler than some football or basketball scenes in movies. One of the problems is how corny it is. Like most (all) Disney sports movies, it just runs into issues of following these super predictable storylines and has some story lines they take no time on developing, but then expect you to care about these relationships. I think Shia LaBeouf and his young caddies Josh Flitters relationship was given some justice and I really did enjoy it. For a true story, it is a really cool story and I think it was worth telling!

-J

Z N/A
E N/A
J 7.5

~ZEJ 7.5

MoviePass, MovieCrash

Definitely felt a little bit like homework. I never had Movie Pass, and maybe that's why I don’t care that much, but I do love movies. I did really enjoy learning about how the business started, and it does make sense why it crashed, but I don’t know if it is documentary worthy. Now, I will be honest I have thought about getting the new Movie Pass, but overall this is something that is definitely not something that needs to be watched.

-J

Z N/A
E N/A
J 6.75

~ZEJ 6.75*

*This is a documentary and the score does not enter the ZEJ ratings table.

Edge of Tomorrow

Do I like Tom Cruise? Also, I feel like I understand the Emily Blunt love a lot more. I always avoided Tom and really never knew Emily, but they worked together quite well. I don’t know if it was the terrible movie poster or if it's just not my usual movie, but in my head I thought this was a terrible movie. Talking with Z and E they convinced me that it is great and deserved a watch. Is it the best action movie ever? No. Did I absolutely enjoy my time watching it? Yes. Now, the timeline does get a little loose in my opinion. Maybe it doesn’t matter how long this has been happening, but some of the scenes seemed like too much for me. Overall though, I think they played the concept well and kept me wondering how it would come together. If you are looking for a fun action movie and love the ‘Groundhogs Day’ genre, give this a watch!

-J

Z N/A
E N/A
J 8.0

~ZEJ 8.0

Madame Web

At no point in the movie was I ever like, wow, this has potential or this is kinda good... her power was interesting to me at one point but then I got confused again and the special effects on a few scenes were cool, but it's bad

-J

E and I usually save the bad movies for Jord but in the case of Madame Web, which seems to be a lock for the Razzies Worst Picture award, and Dakota Johnson may have fired her talent agency over, we had to make an exception, and, boy, did this exceed expectations.

I mean, when a movie delivers lines like:

“Don’t do dumb things.”

or

“Hope the spiders were worth it, mom.”

or improving the iconic Spider-Man line with:

“When you take on the responsibility, great power will come.”

How can that be considered bad?

I mean, sure, the villain in this is given absolutely zero backstory or explanation of who he is, and, yeah, the three “Spider-Women” who are teased the whole movie that they will get superpowers never do, and yes, Dakota Johnson seems to completely mailing it in the final scenes, but you can’t let those things get in the way of script-writing genius.

Limiting the titular character’s use of her powers to “Duck!” and running into the bad guy with a stolen vehicle, not once, but twice is just utter brilliance that will be difficult to replicate.

I won’t go as far as to call this a masterpiece, like The Room, but it comes darn close. 3/10. Must watch.

-Z

Z 3.0
E 3.75
J 4.0

ZEJ 3.58

Babes

A fun comedy, that in a rare space, was almost exactly what I thought it was going to be like. Definitely has it's funny and memorable parts, but also had it's extremely corny parts that just wasn't that funny to be honest. If you are looking for a fun movie to turn your brain off and get some laughs, then go for it. It may have even got me to watch Broad City, but no promises yet!

-J

Ilana Glazer is infectiously funny and Babes was no exception. Broad City is one of my favorite comedies and this was very much in that vein. Ilana and her IRL lifelong friend Michelle Buteau show off their exceptional chemistry and their womance in a variety of great gags. The ending definitely gets a bit Hallmarky, which E’s cold heart wasn’t here for, but this was a very fun time overall and great way to spend just under two hours. Definitely want to see more from Ilana.

-Z

Z 8.0
E 8.0
J 7.25

ZEJ 7.75

Mad Max 2 (1981)

So glad we hung in there for the sequel, as Mad Max 2 was exactly what I had come to expect from this universe. With just 16 lines of dialogue, Mel Gibson fully delivers on the iconic stoicism we see from Max in Fury Road. The formula here is essentially the same as Fury Road and Furiosa, but god is it a good formula. The action sequences are imaginative and as impressive as 1981 could deliver, I’m sure. Comparing this to Fury Road, my only complaint is that there is virtually no character development outside of Max himself. Both films were low on dialogue, obviously, but Fury Road managed to give you a lot of context and feeling for all the non-Max characters, as did Furiosa for that matter in a way that Mad Max 2 struggled to. Super fun movie - definitely would recommend for fans of Fury Road.

-Z

Z 8.5
E 7.75
J n/a

ZEJ 8.13

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga

Looking back, I actually ranked Fury Road the same score. I will say that I am most likely in the rare space that if they were to go head to head, I think that I will lean Furiosa. The thing about Furiosa and Fury Road is that they are very different movies, mostly in their storytelling. It is easy to get lost in the wild action, but I was more invested in the background of Furiosa than the journey of Fury Road. Now, I will say that I told Z and E that I could watch the action sequences for give or take 3 more hours with no issue, I do think the movie flirted with going a bit too long. The surprising limited time of Anya Taylor-Joy and the size of Chris Hemsworth’s nose may have you skeptical, but you have to get over it because the movie is fantastic. Overall, I know that Dune 2 exists, but I do think this is most likely going to be the movie with the best action sequences of the year

-J

When you’re highly anticipating a movie and it sucks, that is a low, horrific feeling. However; when you’re really worried about a movie, and it totally proves you wrong, that feeling is up there with… cancelled plans? Black Cat Ice Cream? I don’t know why I ever doubted George Miller, but the trailer just really was off-putting. It looked like they were just grabbing two Hollywood darlings, Hemsworth and Taylor-Joy, slap a ridiculous prosthetic nose on Thor, and going to ride their coattails. But the reality was, they were used somewhat sparingly in this, despite being the leads (SPOILER ALERT: you don’t even see Anya until the second half of the movie). And Chris’ unbelievable nose fades away to into his intoxicating performance as Dementus. Some roles you can tell, the actor just has a blast with, and my guy is having the time of his life with this one. Anya was really impressive as Furiosa too, commanding each scene she’s in and making a truly convincing younger version of Charlize Theron. Obviously it being a prequel to Fury Road, one could probably expect some potential rehashing of the previous movie’s plot points and mechanics, and that was the case here, ala the War Rig runs, but where they did re-tread that same ground, Miller added completely new elements into the mix that let him get away it. The action was a spectacle, as we could expect, and really just incredibly impressive all the stunts they pulled off in this. The pacing wasn’t quite right at times, as they broke this up into chapters that felt somewhat clunky, and the re-treading I mentioned puts this slightly below Fury Road in score, but the context this gives to that movie, the action and stunts, and the performances from Chris and Anya made this a excellent addition to the franchise and another commendable effort from George Miller.

-Z

Z 9.0
E 8.75
J 9.0

ZEJ 8.92

How to Have Sex

As I have said before, I am a fan of the coming of age films, even the ones that are a lot deeper than comedy. If you told me this was A24, I would have fully believed it. Great color contrasts, with cool transitions and a ‘vibey’ feel. Where a lot of people will complain about this movie is that it is slow, and a lot of casual watchers will say the annoying line ‘it was pointless.’ because it is very theme based compared to telling you the exact story. How it was filmed did make it seem like there was going to be some sort of mystery to it, but leaves no mystery to its end. I was very engaged in wanting to see where it was going to end up. I also thought Mia McKenna-Bruce (main actress) was great in it, as I have not seen another film with her in it. She even won the Bafta ‘Rising Star’ award over Jacob Elordi and Eyo Edebiri, which is crazy to think neither of them would have won. A movie worth watching, but it does have deep themes that are definitely not light hearted and fun.

-J

Z n/a
E n/a
J 8.5

~ZEJ 8.5