Bad Teacher (2011)

School of Rock meets Bad Education, it's the rom-com-school-flick-raucously inappropriate not-quite-family movie of the century. Following the absolutely horrible, and completely brilliant Elizabeth Halsey (Cameron Diaz), leaving and returning to the school she hates to teach for one more year after her relationship *cough* gold-digging plan *cough* breaks down, as she's forced to resort to desperate measures in the chance of getting some brand new boobs, and hopefully, a brand new moneybags, I mean, man in the process.

Whilst, much like School of Rock, so much of the attention is based on the terrible teaching skills, but unlike School of Rock, there really isn't that much focus on the children. There's the generic spoiled brat, emotional love-struck sweetheart, the nerdy one, the chubby one...very much the typical format, but luckily this didn't actually impact on the film at all. They almost managed to avoid something which is personal hatred of mine, and include too young children in too adult jokes. It doesn't work; it's uncomfortable, and you can almost hear the audience wondering in their head if the child actually understands the joke they're awkwardly blurting out, yet this was artfully dodged, for which I am grateful. 

The supporting characters were, at best,...complex. There's no one defining characteristic for any of them, and many of them change their personality during the course of the film, but in the deeper, philosophical terms, this mirrors much of our real personalities (ever changing and developing), so can, of course be forgiven. Timberlake plays an interesting role here, in that he's both lovable, and incredibly annoying, and from the trailer, we're given the impression that it's his looks which draw Diaz to him, yet she generally seems rather tee-d off with him for most of the film, and it's a little difficult trying to understand what her motives are for targeting him. Another muddled personality type belongs to that of Jason Segel's character, gym teacher Russell, who despite first trying out for the role of geeky and obsessed with the hot new teacher, *think Mr Church and Miss Postern from Big School, Brits* somewhere in the middle becomes a man almost as bad as our grungy protagonist and starts pulling out the mockery and marijuana out from the depths of his gym bag. 

The ladies of the cast seem to have managed to side-step this problem, grilling themselves to stick to the individual roles of psychotic and zany red head 'Miss Squirrel', the obvious antagonist of the film; though from a moral point of view, she really should've been the hero here; and anxious, lonely and desperately trying to make friends with the cool girl, 'Lynn'. Other side characters include '17 Again' and 'I Love You, Man' star Thomas Lennon, and 'iCarly' teen-star Noah Munck. 

The humour in this film, whilst not the most sophisticated, is actually very well done, and there are so many scenes where you have to sit back and just think over again the genius you've just watched. For a woman of so little ambition, Elizabeth is a fountain of undiscovered cunning, and is, predictably, the smartest of the lot of them. Her language is absolutely terrible, but it's so fitting for the character you barely even notice it, though it may not be something you watch with the kids. 

Overall, it's a funny and easy watch, with no errors too large it becomes unbearable, and no heroics too big it replaces the legends. 8 out 10.

'Insidious: Chapter 2'

Released only weeks ago, Insidious 2 has become such a grossly talked about film, with such mixed reviews, it seemed almost criminal not to go and see the sequel of one of the few horror films that actually had me shaking. And generally, I was disappointed.
The story itself picks up just 12 hours after the finale of it's prequel, with the tired and traumatised housewife Renai sat in a police holding cell, trying to explain the unexplainable feats of the nights before, and how there came to be a stone cold dead woman sat in the middle of her living room floor. The family, not living with Josh's mother, spend the first third of the film trying to return to normal before discovering that normality is an unattainable concept, especially with the very same demon returning for their families, in a head-shakingly predictable new vessel.
Overall, the story line is good. The ghoulish villains have an intriguing back story,  the jump scares were rolling in by the plenty, there was a not-quite-shocking-but-still-quite-surprising twist thrown in halfway through, and from beginning to middle, I was interested. Yet, from middle to end, I simply lost focus. The story from that point on became too scattered, too predictable and too plagiarised, it felt like any old horror film; falling chandeliers, spooky, dusty houses, slamming doors and lazy writing. The conclusion to the story was unpleasantly poor as well, seemingly summing up years of trauma in a few short scenes, none of which were performed to any great acting standard, I might add.
The cast itself is reasonably resonant, with the same characters, plus one, resuming pretty much the same roles as in the previous film. Worried wife Renai (Rose Byrne), frustrated father Josh (Patrick Wilson), kindly spiritualist, nerdy ghost busters and children who kick ghostly-butt and whisper creepy warnings through their baby monitors. The new addition to the cast, Carl, played by 'The Hunger Games' Steve Coulter, takes the form of an old friend of the recently deceased Elise, effectively takes the place of resident spiritual contactor, yet actually has a very two dimensional personality in contrast to some of the other characters; far too many of whom had so much screen time, yet spent so little of it actually acting. Another character whose time on screen should've been increased ever so slightly would've been the ghostly demon itself, who, whilst having it's marginally disturbing private and personal life explained away, doesn't really do that much ghostly murdering. Yes, the grim looking 'mother of death' does make a couple of chairs flap about, and whilst she does strum out some terrible piano chords once in a while, she does a surprisingly small amount of damage in the 'real world', and serves only a marginally larger purpose in the 'spirit world'.
One of the complaints I had of the last film was, to be blunt, the flinch-worthy and horribly hammy special effects concluding the second half, yet these appeared to have kept to a minimum in 'Chapter 2', for which I was incredibly grateful. The actual 'scary' moments of the film... well, yes, they were scary, but it was a rather short-fused fear, and were slightly disjointed in comparison to the rest of the film, in all it's dry stretch. I also found that, in comparison to the drawn-out tension of the previous film, the directors decided to drop in some lighter moments of comic relief, typically in the characters of Specs and Tucker; yet these moments were so awkwardly punctuated, stuck in between scenes which might've been scary, or emotional, it just felt unpolished and badly edited. If you're looking for a film to make you jump out of your seat, a real white-knuckle horror...this is really not going to be that film.

'Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs' (2009)

As the long awaited sequel rapidly approaches I felt it was finally time to sit down and watch animated foodie film 'Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs', in all it's moreish and meaty goodness. And I absolutely loved it.
The story starts with adorable young Flint Lockwood (Bill Hader) a wide eyed dreamer from the grey and grungy town of Swallow Falls (located under the A in Atlantic on the map) who has spent his life trying to invent a contraption to make life just that little bit better; whether it be spray on shoes, monkey translators or even a machine to change condensed water into food...with the latter causing all the problems. With his town falling into a sardine-filled depression, and his father trying to pigeon hole him into work at his tackle shop, Flint realises that both he and his village desperately need some excitement, need something to change and fast to keep them all moving, and so invents the 'FLDSMDFR'. But, as with every invention walking its way out of Flint's underground lab...there's always one major flaw in his underappreciated genius. So, when Flint tries set up his magical machine at the unveiling of the new hand-me-down sardine-based theme park, he is suddenly interrupted, and the machine flies out of control halfway through construction, destroying the park, shaming his father, and turning both the town, and pretty visiting weather girl Sam against him in a matter of minutes. However, what Flint doesn't anticipate is that when the machine shoots up into the ether...the consequences of Flint's actions begin to rain down on all of them...though perhaps not in the way that he expects.
Now, onto the analysis. This film was brilliant for three very different reasons, with the first being the absolutely perfect characterisation of all characters and cast members involved, from stunning and secretly geeky Sam Sparks (Anna Faris), interning at her local weather station in the hope of fulfilling her dreams of becoming a real reporter, to suspicious and shorts-wearing police officer Earl, voiced by none other than the incredible Mr T, with his aggressively endless commentary of love for his young son Cal. Flint himself is obviously wonderful, of course, if slightly predictable in his perpetual awkwardness and his 'underwhelming hero does good, but it goes bad, but then they fix it again' story line. Despite this, he is still a very watchable, and relatable main character.
                 However, the absolute star of this film, for me personally, would have to be the large and unobtrusive father of Flint, a bemused and long suffering man with a magnificent monobrow and the constant confusion of being a teenage parent, who can never quite say what he feels in regards to his son. With his wife having died ten years previously, comfort and encourage for his hyperactive and gangly son will usually appear in the form of fishing metaphors, which Flint has never quite caught the tail of (no pun intended), all of which make for a complex and heart-rendering between the two, something the film handles incredibly well, creating an ending which is very, very relatable for teenagers and their parents all around the world. Another favourite of mine would have to be Flint's best friend and pet monkey 'Steve' (Neil Patrick Harris), the guinea pig of the 'monkey translator headband' whose one word utterances are absolutely perfect in both the lighter and darker scenes of the film.
                The second prong of my analysis would have to be in the graphic effects of the film, in the towns slick and sheer transformation from dull and dented fishing town to tourist hot spot and foodie heaven. The visuals here are absolutely stunning, from the shining jello mansion, the cheese dip street pools, to the beautifully imagined food cloud framing the town, shimmering and glowing in a way that looks practically artistic. It makes for such an enjoyable and intriguing watch, with even the smallest of details making you gasp in awe.
And finally, my ultimate favourite element of the film; the food. As a person who has always found, with a childish sense of glee, food puns to be the absolute height of humour, the grub-related dialogue in many scenes had me howling, whilst the actual images of the food continued to make me absolutely starving as the film progressed. Tip: do not watch this film on an empty stomach. Or with an empty fridge for that matter. The entire plot of the food wars was brilliantly explained as well, leaving no gaping plot holes, and no dodgy summaries to answer the general questions of 'how' and 'why' in regards to a giant cloud of raining food.
In conclusion, I thoroughly enjoyed each and every aspect of this film, from the much appreciated low-key romance sub-plot to the lovable heroes journey through fame and back, and I literally cannot wait for the the next part! Bring it on!