Tag Archives: Charlie Day

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The Lego Movie – Review

lego movie poster

Everything is Awesome, the Tegan and Sara song that plays throughout much of The Lego Movie, could be used to describe The Lego Movie itself, because everything about this movie is awesome.

When I first saw the posters advertising The Lego Movie, I figured it would be nothing of note, just a 90 minute advertisement for the toy line. But then I saw my first trailer, and I was hooked. The movie looked good. Then I heard that Christopher Miller and Phil Lord, two of the creators of MTV’s very underrated and short lived animated series Clone High, wrote and directed The Lego Movie, and I was all in. I knew I had to see this movie. I am a huge fan of Clone High, and implore you to get your hands on the series.

clone high

If you haven’t seen The Lego Movie yet and would like to avoid spoilers, don’t read past this photo!

lego movie unikitty

Unikitty is my new favorite Lego.

The voice cast in The Lego Movie is stellar. Will Ferrell is tremendous as Lord Business/President Business/The Man Upstairs.  And Will Arnett’s Batman simply rocked. Will Arnett might be my favorite Batman actor not named Kevin Conroy. Also, Charlie Day steals the movie as Benny, the 1980s astronaut. That minifig was my favorite as a kid, and I loved that Benny’s helmet chinstrap was broken, just as mine and I’m guessing most others who owned that minifig’ helmet was.

benny lego movie

“SPACESHIP!”

The Lego Movie did such a good job incorporating the fact that these Lego people are toys in real life. I loved President Business’s collection of artifacts that were simply mispronounced household items. And I think the decision to have the movie shift from animation to live action for the scenes involving the father and son was such a good idea.

lego movie live action

I loved that the different Lego licences were incorporated into the movie. The Michelangelo Renaissance/Michelangelo Ninja Turtles joke was hilarious. I still can’t believe they incorporated the 2002 NBA All-Star team Lego minifigs! And my eyes bugged out of my skull when the Millenium Falcon showed up with Han, Chewie, Threepio and Lando. And with the original actors doing voices! Well, except for Han Solo. I was completely convinced that was Harrison Ford’s voice coming out of Han Solo’s mouth, but according to IMDB, it was actually Keith Ferguson. The dude does an awesome Harrison Ford.

Like The Grand Budapest Hotel, I’m looking forward to watching The Lego Movie a second time around. I caught The Lego Movie in 3D and highly recommend seeing it in 3D if you see it in the movie theater. The 3D wasn’t jarring and definitely added to the movie.

lego movie batman

If you’re on the fence about seeing The Lego Movie, I definitely recommend seeing it. Writing it off as a kids movie would be as big a mistake as writing off Toy Story as a kids movie. Everything is awesome.

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On the Couch 2012 #3: Horrible Bosses

If you like comedies, go see Horrible Bosses. It is a very, very funny movie and if it weren’t for Bridesmaids, I would say it is the funniest movie of 2011.

Horrible Bosses at its core is a concept that most people can relate to, three buddies who each hate their bosses. It’s not something I can relate to, my boss is awesome (especially if he’s reading this blog right now). But even I have had a bad boss or two in my career (but not my current one! Again, he’s awesome!).

I feel like more people would have went to see Horrible Bosses in the theater if the commercials played up how little clothing Jennifer Aniston’s character likes to wear during the film. Don’t sell it as Charlie Day has a boss who really wants to have sex with him; sell it as Jennifer Aniston wants to get freaky with her employee. If you try to sell it as Charlie Day’s boss want to have sex with him, then the potential viewer has to think about Charlie Day potentially having sex, and while I can’t speak for all of America, that’s not something that I really want swimming around my brain. On the other hand, if you start with Jennifer Aniston really wants to get it on with one of her employees, I don’t even care that it’s Charlie Day, where can I buy a ticket.

Show me less Charlie Day and more of his boss.
This is on the right track, but really, Jennifer Aniston is dressed much more conservatively in these two posters than she is in the movie.
This is how her character actually dresses for work.
Put this image on your poster and you just won your opening weekend.
It was cool that Jennifer Aniston didn’t play the normal Jennifer Aniston role, namely the good girl (but not The Good Girl. She broke type in that movie as well). 

I just realized that between this and Wanderlust, Jennifer Aniston may become my favorite comedic actress of the year.

Back to Charlie Day for a second, he had my favorite scene in the movie. It’s when he’s acting as the lookout after accidentally inhaling Colin Farrell’s cocaine. His antics in the getaway car were hilarious and still make me giggle when I think of them.

Speaking of Colin Farrell, how crazy was his makeover in this movie? I never liked Colin Farrell, but with Horrible Bosses and In Bruges, I’m starting to gain respect for him as a comedic actor.

He said to his stylist, “Give me a Matt Damon circa The Informant.”

If you haven’t seen Horrible Bosses yet, you definitely should, maybe after the next time you get home from a rough day at the office.