This week at the movies: Melissa McCarthy gets super “bossy” on screen with her business-savvy troop of Brownies; Hardcore Henry takes us into an exhilarating, video game-like world where he must singlehandedly fight to save his kidnapped spouse; and a fun gang of college baseball players prove 1980 was one wild year.
The Boss
Wealthy mogul Michelle Darnell (Melissa McCarthy) always gets her way, until she's busted for insider trading and sent to federal prison. After leaving jail, Darnell finds herself broke, homeless and hated. Luckily, she tracks down former assistant Claire (Kristen Bell), the only person who's willing to help. While staying with Claire and her young daughter, the ex-con devises a new business model for a Brownie empire. Unfortunately, some old enemies stand in the way of her return to the top. Will Ferrell, Peter Dinklage, and Kathy Bates also make an appearance in this boisterous comedy.
Perfect for: Melissa McCarthy comedy fanatics (this movie was also produced by McCarthy and her director husband, Ben Falcone).
What the Critics Say: McCarthy is (undoubtedly) an absolute hoot. But the movie itself? Let’s just say McCarthy steals the spotlight. Variety compliments “her irrepressible flair for physical comedy and her devastating way with a one-liner,” and claims that the plot – although a little “iffy” and flat at times– is still downright hilarious: “As demonstrated by movies as sweet as School of Rock and as nasty as Bad Santa, the gradual corruption of impressionable young tots by a jaded, cynical adult can be a fertile comic premise. The Boss takes up this tradition with undeniable gusto…”
Our Take: We always think Melissa McCarthy is magnificent. Plus, cute Kristen Bell, crazy girl scouts, Game of Thrones’ Peter Dinklage, and even the legendary Will Ferrell? We will definitely be laughing through this one.
Hardcore Henry
A man wakes up in a Moscow laboratory to learn that he's been brought back from the dead as a half-human, half-robotic hybrid. With no memory of his former life, a woman (Haley Bennett) who claims to be his wife tells him that his name is Henry. Before she can activate his voice, armed thugs storm in and kidnap her. As Henry starts to understand his new abilities, he embarks on a bloody rampage through the city to save his spouse from a psychopath (Danila Kozlovsky) who plans to destroy the world.
Perfect for: Sci-fi/fantasy and action movie aficionados – and serious gamers. This Russian film was actually shot with head-mounted cameras (Go-Pro style) in order to give the audience the sensation of being inside of a video game.
What the Critics Say: Apparently, the action is visceral and intense, the camera work is groundbreaking, and the set design is spectacular. IGN opines: “Hardcore Henry is a first-person shooter come to life… [So] get ready for the most ridiculous, adrenaline-fueled 90 minutes of 2016… Meanwhile, the set pieces are brilliantly designed to look like video game stages. There's a car chase, a fetch quest, an escort mission, a sniper segment – at one point, Henry even tries to tame a wild horse, which goes about as well as you'd expect…”
Our Take: Sounds like quite the adventure and exhilarating experience. We’d suggest going easy on the caffeine before seeing this thrilling ride of a movie (otherwise, you might just have a heart attack).
Everybody Wants Some!!
In 1980 Texas, a college freshman (Blake Jenner) meets his new baseball teammates (Will Brittain, Ryan Guzman), an unruly group of disco-dancing, skirt-chasing partyers. The boys must navigate, without parental supervision, through the many adventures and challenges of post-adolescence and college life. Written and directed by Oscar-nominated Richard Linklater (Boyhood).
Perfect for: Those who love classic all-American, nostalgic throwback movies (think Dazed and Confused and Wet Hot American Summer).
What the Critics Say: The critics are all-around very positive about this one, calling Everybody Wants Some!! as impressive and quintessential as Dazed and Confused (if not more so). Variety dubs it “comic bliss,” acclaiming the film’s relatable, antic-loving characters and “acutely funny” script: “Linklater once again demonstrates a command of the rhythms of youthful slackerdom that is itself anything but lazy. His method here is to cram the frame with so many vivid and recognizable types – the preening ladykiller, the high-functioning narcoleptic (aptly named Coma), the game-for-anything goofball, the overgrown dreamer – that the movie is half over before you realize it’s effectively thrown the very idea of types out the window… For the better part of two hours it conjures a vision of the past so alive you can just about touch and smell it – and then it slips away, dreamlike, as though back to the decade whence it came.”
Our Take: If the title has not one, but TWO, exclamation points, then this movie must be as good as the critics are saying it is. We’ll be there!!