Ice Age: Collision Course (2016)

I was looking for something to watch and I figured I would check something out from Disney Plus and I have always been a fan of the Ice Age movies. I know i have seen most of them and I wasn't sure where I left off, but I knew I hadn't seen 2016's Ice Age: Collision Course which is the fifth film in the series and was directed by Michael Thurmeier  and Galen Tan Chu (Ice Age: Continentel Drift). Everyone's favorite gang of prehistoric creatures is back, but their about to have a whole lot of problems all thanks to Scrat who while chasing his Acorn manages to find a spaceship that just happens to set off so many events including an asteroid that is heading to destroy Earth and the gang has to scramble to save it from happening. The film stars Ray Romano (The Irishman) as Manny, Queen Latifah (Chicago) as Ellie, John Leguizamo (Spun) as Sid, Denis Leary (The Amazing Spider-Man) as Diego, Keke Palmer (Hustlers) as Peaches, Adam Devine (Jexi) as Julian, Jennifer Lopez (Hustlers) as Shira, Wanda Sykes (Bad Moms) as Granny, Simon Pegg (Shaun Of The Dead) as Buck, Seann William Scott (American Pie) as Crash, Josh Peck (Spun) as Eddie, Nick Offerman (The Little Hours) as Gavin, Jessie J as Brooke, Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Modern Family) as Shangri Llama,  and Stephanie Beatriz (Brooklyn Nine-Nine) as Gertie.

I liked some of the cameos in the film like the one done by Neil deGrasse Tyson, but even that couldn't really save the film for me. I definitely loved how they explained how the universe came to be all thanks to Scrat, but I thought the film overall was OK. It had a solid premise and they checked all the boxes of turning points, the hook, subplots, and all that stuff when it comes to the writing, but the film just wasn't as funny as any of the other ones that I had seen. One thing that is for sure is that if it was a Disney movie from the start, it probably would have better, but this is why 20TH Century Fox is no longer a thing. There was definitely a lot of potential for this film because I loved a lot of the subplots and I even loved the voice acting and the animation, but a lot of the stuff just wasn't as funny as previous films. They had a who's who of actors in this film and they all did very well, but there is a reason there is not a number six on the way besides the fact that Disney is probably not interested anyways. I always thought that Ray Romano was always a perfect choice to play a Mastodon thanks to his voice and actually most of them fit their characters pretty well. I know the flying dinosaurs were somewhat a part of the film, but I thought their presence could have been a little more than it was. Too much time spent on Scrat and his space adventures which some were funny and some were meh. I am going to give this one an B- for a final grade.

Spun (2002)

There are countless films that I had been meaning to watch for a very long time, but I never got around to it. An old friend of mine recommended the film back when he worked at Hollywood Video (a video rental store) and Amazon Prime has it. So for today's film, we are checking out 2002's Spun which was directed by Jonas Åkerlund (Lords Of Chaos) and it stars Jason Schwartzman (Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World) as speed freak Ross who one day decides to visit his dealer who in turn introduces to the man who cooks the stuff and thus begins a crazy three day binge filled wacky adventure that you have to see to believe. The film also stars John Leguizamo (What's The Worst That Could Happen?) as Spider, Mickey Rourke (Buffalo '66) as The Cook, Brittany Murphy (Riding in Cars with Boys) as Nikki, Patrick Fugit (Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant) as Frisbee, Mena Suvari (The Murder of Nicole Brown Simpson) as Cookie,  Debbie Harry (Tales From The Darkside) as Neighbor, Rob Halford (Judas Priest) as Porn store clerk, Eric Roberts (The Best Of The Best) as The Man, Peter Stormare (John Wick: Chapter 2) as Mullet Cop, the late Alexis Arquette (Bride Of Chucky) as Moustache Cop, Josh Peck (Drake & Josh) as Fat Boy, and the late Larry Drake (Desert Heat a.k.a. Inferno) as Dr. K.

As soon as you begin watching this film, you can instantly tell who it was directed by especially if you had seen Lords Of Chaos before this film. Jonas applies a lot of the same techniques in both films from the look and feel of it to some of the aesthetics throughout the whole film like the way it's edited and some of the animation that is mixed in with the film. One thing is for sure and that is this is one hell of a ride as you follow Ross and his drug fueled adventures that includes leaving a girl tied up and handcuffed to his bed to his adventures with Nikki and The Cook. I absolutely loved Mickey Rourke in this film because he was just so out there in his look that it actually worked for me like yes that guy could be cooking crank all the time. One thing is for sure and that is that it's hard to just pick one person as an MVP because everyone from Leguizamo to Murphy to Fugit to Scwartzman all did an amazing job in the film because I was convinced they were all speed freak junkies. One of the other things Jonas does well with the film was the choice of who to handle the music for the film (Billy Corgan) and some of the songs that were included in the film like Junkie by Ozzy Osbourne is playing when Brittany dances at the club. This was a really good film that if you want something surreal and different then give this one a watch. I am going to go ahead and give the film an A- for a final grade.