Sonic The Hedgehog (2020)

One of my favorite video games as a kid was Sonic The Hedgehog for Sega Genesis and when my mother bought me that game, I played it for hours and hours. Years have passed since then and with an animated series, I thought that was all we would get until the announcement of the film, but unfortunately thanks to Covid-19, I was never able to see the movie until now right on my VUDU app as it is today's film. The film stars Ben Schwartz (Parks And Recreation) as our really fast blue alien known as Sonic The Hedgehog. You see Sonic has been living on Earth for some time after having to escape his home planet and things are going good until he creates a power surge in a small Montana town. That power surge attracts the wrong people like an smart evil genius known as Dr. Robotnik (Jim Carrey) who wants to catch him and experiment on him, but it will take the help of a small town cop (James Marsden) to help Sonic escape. The film also stars Tika Sumpter (Ride Along) as Maddie, Natasha Rothwell (A Year And Change) as Rachel, Adam Pally (The Little Hours) as Wade, Lee Majdoub (The 100) as Agent Stone, Neal McDonough (Captain America: The First Avenger) as Major Bennington, Frank C. Turner (Needful Things) as Crazy Carl, and the film was directed by Jeff Fowler in his major motion picture debut.

One thing was for certain when I started watching the film and that was I didn't know how they were going to handle the idea of turning him into a film. We all know that a lot of video game movies fail at the box office with the exception of a few, but most of the time they fall flat. So, I had that to worry about when I started the film, but in the end I was rather pleased with what I saw. One you have to give the filmmakers a lot of credit because they listened to their fanbase and they redid all of Sonic's animation for the film. A lot of people were outraged and they knew the film would tank if they didn't do something about it, but they did and they get kudos for that cause he looked a lot better. I definitely loved the story and I loved where they went with it because it became a buddy road trip kind of film with a lot of laughs and it was cute. I thought James Marsden was great in the film and he would almost get MVP status, but that honor belongs to Jim Carrey who played one hell of a villain who in my opinion saved the movie. Jim Carrey was the right man for the role and he knocked it out of the park playing a great villain. If you are a fan of the character and the games then I definitely suggest that you at least check it out once because it's definitely worth one. I am going to give the film an B+ for a final grade because there is some really cool action scenes and more.

The Little Hours (2017)

To be perfectly honest, I had never heard of the film that I chose for today, but it featured a really good collection of a cast that I couldn't resist watching it. Back in the 14TH century, Giovanni Boccaccio wrote a collection of novellas that has been restored to it's original form in the book The Decameron and director Jeff Baena (Life After Beth) decided that he would write the script and turn it into a film called The Little Hours. The film stars Dave Franco (The Disaster Artist) as Massetto, a guard for a wealthy Lord who gets into something he shouldn't have and now he is on the run. Massetto by chance runs into a priest by the name of Father Tommasso (John C. Reilly) who agrees to take him in under one condition, that he pretends to be a mute. That will prove to be challenging when the nuns in the convent begin tempting him. The film also stars Alison Brie (How To Be Single) as Alessandra, Kate Micucci (The LEGO Batman Movie) as Ginevra, Aubrey Plaza (Ingrid Goes West) as Fernanda, Molly Shannon (Wet Hot American Summer) as Sister Maria, Fred Armisen (Anchorman: The Legend Of Ron Burgundy) as Bishop Bartolomeo, Jemima Kirke (Girls) as Marta, Nick Offerman (Bad Times At The El Royale) as Lord Bruno, Adam Pally (The Mandalorian) as Guard Paolo, and Paul Reiser (Mad About You) as Ilario.

Have you seen the collection of actors in this film in the above paragraph? That alone should be the sing that you are actually about to watch a really good film. Now I will warn that there is a lot of sexual content in the film because that is what the story was based around in that no matter what we do sometimes even the holiest of people can give in to sexual desires. These are women that are training to be nuns so that they can make their families proud because I guess back in those days it was the noble thing to do. Today we want our kids to go to college and get a great job and back in the 14TH century it was I would like my son or daughter to be a priest/nun. At one point in the film, I wanted to be frustrated with how over the top Audrey Plaza was as she acted like herself, but then again I said this is a comedy after all so I believe it fits the context of what they are doing. Dave Franco deserves all of the honors in the film as he did such an amazing job in the film. I mean John C. Reilly was simply John C. Reilly and that equals great, but Franco deserves some credit as well for everything he had to do. Alison Brie and co were fantastic as well and big props to Molly Shannon who held her own as well. I loved the chaos of the film especially during the witchcraft scenes because it added something different to the film and I loved the cinematography and imagery of it. I definitely think the film is worth checking out and you can find it on Netflix as we speak. I am going to give the film an B+ for a final grade.