22 Jump Street Cracked Me Up!

Man, what a good weekend for movies! And sequels at that. 22 Jump Street is more than just a worthy successor to 21 Jump... it's SO MUCH BETTER.

Part of this is because of Channing Tatum. In the first movie, his character kind of fell apart late into the story and stopped mattering. This time it's a little different. And the funniest version of Channing Tatum it turns out is a happy Channing Tatum. It's also a whole lot easier to watch Jonah Hill be sad and depressed for some reason. But I'm jumping to conclusions. This movie was probably the most I've laughed in at least five years. Somehow it felt like every single cast member brought their A-game. Ice Cube has what I'd call his best performance period. And it comes naturally... fluidly out of the story being told... The fun being had. This set must have been amazing to work on because all of these actors are doing everything perfectly.

The self referential nature of it all only manages to heighten the laughs which is honestly a bit of a shock to me... because usually that kind of thing can feel feeble at best. But somehow the metaphor for "breaking through their ceiling" was exactly what the film managed to do. I'm really amazed and a little gaga for this thing that could so easily have been a train wreck.

Phil Lord and Chrisopher Miller... The Lego Movie guys... have really outdone themselves once again. And I can't believe how much they've accomplished in just the last five years... Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (the good one, not the sequel), 21 Jump Street, The Lego Movie, 22 Jump Street... to me this is the absolute definition of "killing it."

So without ruining anything (and believe me, it's a difficult task at this point) I'm telling you to go out and watch this raunchy comedy because you're gonna have a blast. Just make sure you're in a crowded theatre and everyone's there to have a good time. Believe me, it's worth your time.

The Overindulgent Wolf Of Wall Street

At some point during the three hour run-time of The Wolf of Wall Street I started feeling sick.

Not physically. I didn't want to vomit or anything. But mentally, I began tearing down this movie and I just couldn't stop questioning every little thing it did. Actually let me rephrase that... I couldn't stop questioning every BIG thing it did. Indeed nothing about this movie was little. At every corner, the overindulgent nature of its concept took hold and strangled this movie to death.

It's almost as if Scorsese decided that he had to play every trick in the book just to call it a comedy... it's not a comedy. But for some reason we still get nailed over the head with these ridiculous moments that are intended to make us laugh. Character telepathy, awkward narrations, and extensive music video-esque party sequences. Only then we reach the end and it's as if the story missed a step or not even that, simply didn't tell us what we needed to know. I mean, how many three hour comedies have you seen in your life?

Pretty sure the answer to that is zero.

To be fair, I actually didn't hate The Wolf of Wall Street. I just didn't get any real sense of enjoyment out of it. In fact, I think Scorsese frequently made the correct decisions given the nature of the piece. Yes, it's about a cheating stockbroker on Wall Street. Yes, he is an addict who can't stop the party machine that has become his life. Actually overindulgent sounds just about right for this thing. So, I guess what I'm really saying is, The Wolf of Wall Street does exactly what it wants to do and says exactly what it wants to say. But that message is mostly lost on me. I don't know... perhaps that's a good thing.