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Dirty Grandpa (2016)

DirtyGrandpaI would have loved to be a fly on the wall during the pitch meeting with DeNiro for “Dirty Grandpa”: “And so Efron comes to pick you up, and you’re lying there on your recliner masturbating in the nude to interracial porn! He screams in horror while you’re ejaculating, but you’re so cool about it, that you barely acknowledge the awkwardness. The kids will love it!” I appreciate that Robert DeNiro seems to be actively working against being typecast as some wise old grandpa or magical elderly sage.

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The Angry Birds Movie (2016)

angrybirdsmovieI’ll just openly admit that I never played “Angry Birds.” I know it was a popular game three years ago, used on cell phones that involved animated birds being hurled in to crap, and now for some reason it’s a movie. It’s a movie that’s filled with loud noises, a warbling pop soundtrack, bright colors, and still manages to bore successfully. You can argue that this is a movie for kids, so it was obvious I wouldn’t like it. But I refuse the premise of your argument and no longer accept that cheap excuse. Kids are not this stupid. The last few years have proven kids can be given complex and rich entertainment and appreciate it completely.

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Five Ways to Fix “Arrow”

Arrow-season4Well, “Arrow” season four has come and gone and let’s face it: The season finale stunk on ice. Even “The Flash” season finale, which didn’t progress our characters very much, was still so much better than “Arrow’s” finale which, from beginning to end, was a sloppy, silly, stupid, plot hole filled mess. Once upon a time, “Arrow” was the big gun in the CW action universe, but now it’s lagging behind. The goofy “Legends of Tomorrow” is assembling the mythical “Justice Society of America,” while “Supergirl” is set to join her DC super pals on the CW Network very soon.

If “Arrow” doesn’t pick up its game, it’s going to be the show that’s wading in tepid water, while the other action series’ are aiming for bigger ambitions and outside the box storytelling. Here are five ways “Arrow” can be fixed to get back to when it was an entertaining crime thriller about a vigilante seeking redemption.

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Sun, Sand and Sweat 4 Movie Set [2 Blu-ray]

sunsweatandsandIf you’re in the market for some summer time comedy filled with raunch, eighties madness, gratuitous nudity, and a bunch of aspiring movie stars or future movie stars like Johnny Depp, and Jamie Lee Curtis, Mill Creek has the four movie line up for your pleasure. Now on Blu-Ray, these are four of the most terrible and yet entertaining movies of the eighties for economic movie collectors.

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X-Men: Apocalypse (2016)

xmenapocalypseAt the end of the day, “X-Men Apocalypse” is a big step up from the films in the series that preceded it, but it’s still just a Bryan Singer “X-Men” movie. Its two and a half hours of surface level action and superficial ideas that still haven’t broken in to the more complex themes of prejudice, racism, hatred, and bigotry that have made the X-Men property so beloved and widely embraced. Six movies later and only now FOX seems to be getting that a big advantage of the “X-Men” movies is that there are so many fascinating heroes and average people turned in to heroes of varied shapes, sizes, and colors. Only now that Marvel has embraced the team movie are Singer and FOX transforming the “X-Men” in to a team franchise.

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Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising (2016)

neighbors2I liked “Neighbors” for what it tried to accomplish, but in the end it wasn’t a complete home run. Considering five people worked on it, “Neighbors 2” is a shockingly superior follow up to the original 2014 comedy. While it is, in essence, a cash in, it’s also a much more socially relevant comedy that offers interesting ideas and commentary about equality of the sexes, and how the deck is stacked against young women in society. “Neighbors 2” doesn’t get preachy, but it does provide audiences with a glimpse at how young women are much more objectified and taken for granted than younger men.

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Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986)

FerrisBuellerI think one of the main reasons why “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” has become such a classic, even thirty years later, is that Ferris Bueller is that character we wish we could be. Many of us have always dreamed of ignoring life’s responsibilities and obligations if only for one day, and Ferris has the guts to act on his desire. This is a guy who is working hard against becoming just another doting workaday suburbanite like his parents. And somewhere down the road, he might even become his best friend Cameron, a guy ruled by his fear and insecurity.

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