Phil sees BAD MOMS from STX Entertainment - December 8, 2016

Now as some of you might now, I'll watch any kind of movie out there. Even the so-called "Chick Flicks" that most men will dread taking their female companion to. But there's been a recent trend that has taken Hollywood by storm: raunchy chick flick comedies. Seriously, the films are funny as hell and can rival their male counterparts! So another excellent edition to this genre is the film BAD MOMS from the folks at STX Entertainment.

The film's official synopsis: Amy (Mila Kunis) has a seemingly perfect life - a great marriage, over-achieving kids, a beautiful home and a career. However, she's overworked, over-committed and exhausted to the point that she's about to snap. Fed up, she joins forces with two other over-stressed moms on a quest to liberate themselves from conventional responsibilities - going on a wild, un-mom-like binge of long overdue freedom, fun and self-indulgence - putting them on a collision course with PTA Queen Bee Gwendolyn (Christina Applegate) and her clique of devoted perfect moms.

Writer/director Jon Lucas and co-writer Scott Moore pull off of the funniest comedies I've seen in a while. The script is both huge on laughs while wears its heart and feelings on its sleeve. Their characters looks and sound like real moms who basically do it all: having a career, being a parent, drive the kids to and from school, running errands, do the cooking and the house cleaning, laundry, etc. I've always said that mom's are our superheroes and they don't get enough credit for all that they do for us. Also keep in mind they also carried us around for nine months, so remember that everyday is Mother's Day. Lucas also finds that perfect balance of comedy and emotion with his directing. He has clean medium and wide shots and compositions so we can see every single sight gag, every joke said, every tear shed and every moment of all these incredible moms and all the bullshit that they deal with everyday.

Leading the bad moms crew is actress/sex symbol Kunis, who is just outstanding as our frustrated, stressed out, overwhelmed and under appreciated mom Amy. Once she reaches her breaking point is where the fun begins and we see how her decision of quitting at being a mom both re-energizes and re-discovers of who she is. Kristen Bell's Kiki is one of her best roles she's ever done. She goes against type and plays Kiki had thus soft spoken, naive, low self-esteemed stay-at-home mom who is pushed around and dominated by her asshole husband. But there's a lot of growth with Kiki and Bell's performance is awesomely funny! Rounding out the group is bad girl Carla, portrayed by the hilariously raunchy Kathryn Hahn. I loved her character Carla. She had the best one-liners, is  tough as they come and is just drop dead sexy! I love this woman! Together, these three actresses have great on-screen chemistry and they are freaking funny as hell. Don't believe me? Just watch the grocery store scene and try hard not to laugh your ass off!!

As with all movies, your hero is only as good as your villain. In this case, Amy's main antagonist is the wicked bitch from the west Gwendolyn, played by Applegate. This woman is one evil bitch: she's a rich wife,  she's head of the PTA, she's rich, she bosses everybody around including the school staff and she comes off as the perfect mom who can't do wrong. When she bumps heads with Amy, all hell breaks loose. Gwendolyn, along with her cronies Stacy (Jada Pinkett-Smith) and Vicky (Annie Mumolo) go after Amy, her kids and her reputation as a mom while she and her bad moms crew retaliate and the results is pure comedy gold!!

Now maybe it's just me, but my opinion is that America is a pretty up tight place. Or maybe they think that women aren't funny. Whatever the case may be, the film received a lot of negative feedback, was panned by critics and was just trashed by audiences. I know what you're gonna say people. Everybody's a critic, but remember, film's are a form of entertainment. They are designed to enlighten you, enrich you, open you're eyes to the problems of the world, or they're just there to entertain you and offer you an escape from the real world for about 90 minutes. This film wasn't to be taken seriously. It was supposed to entertain you and make you laugh your ass off. And that's just what it did for me! It accomplished both endeavors and it was great!! And despite the negative reviews, it went on to gross $179.4 million worldwide! Not too bad considering the film's budget was only $20 million.

BAD MOMS is one of the funniest movies of 2016!! If you're a mom, then you will love this movie! If you love raunchy comedies, then this is right up your alley! This is one helluva funny movie and you definitely need to see this!! 5 out of 5 stars!! Highly recommended!!

BAD MOMS is available on both Blu-Ray and DVD. The movie is also available on iTunes, Video On Demand, digital download and Netflix.

Thanks for reading, and enjoy the show!

Phil sees THE VOW at the Camera 12 Downtown San Jose-February 10, 2012

The second film I saw Friday night after CHRONICLE was the new chick flick THE VOW, starring the beautiful Rachel McAdams and Channing Tatum. Now just in case you never heard of the term "chick flick," it's slang meaning "a film mainly dealing with love and romance designed to appeal to a female target audience." For most men who are dating or married to a woman, chances are she will want you to take her to see one of these films. Now some are very good and entertaining while others will make you wish you were getting a route canal. However this film was actually decent, so men be not afraid.

Theatrical Movie Poster (2012)

The film's about a happily married couple named Paige and Leo (McAdams and Tatum), who have been together for the past five years. However one night they are in a terrible car accident, landing them both in the hospital. Leo heals but Paige lies in a coma. Once she wakens, she doesn't recognize her husband. The doctors soon realize that Paige has lost her memory of the past five years. Leo becomes determined to help his wife to regain her memory, but her parents Bill and Rita Thorton (Sam Neill and Jessica Lange respectively) are planning to take her away from him and have their perfect family again. Also trying to claim Paige's heart is her ex-fiance Jeremy (Scott Speedman from the UNDERWORLD series). Leo does what he can to help Paige, but in the end will love be enough to save their marriage or will it all just end?

Now the film's premise may sound far fetched, but believe it or not the story is actually based on a real life couple, Kim and Krickitt Carpenter. On November 1993, the Carpenters were in an automobile accident on I-40 west of Gallup in New Mexico. Krickitt, never regained her memory but the couple are still married and have two children. They originally sold the movie rights to their story back in 1996 but objected to movie scripts that strayed too far from the truth, so they wrote a book about their story called "The Vow: The Kim and Krickitt Carpenter Story" which was published in 2000. Soon Spyglass Entertainment came along with a script that the Carpenters approved of. 

Now the film and book are different in many ways. The film takes place in Chicago instead of New Mexico. The film has Paige and Leo being married for four years while the Carpenters were married for only 10 weeks before the accident. Leo is a music producer and has his own studio while Kim was a baseball coach at New Mexico Highlands University in Las Vegas. So like I said, subtle differences.

Now as for the film itself, there are the usual standard Hollywood cliches. You have the stereotypical evil parents, the jerk ex and the predictable "will love conquer all" finale. I know, what a big surprise there, huh? But McAdams is a very capable actress and she gets into character. The post-accident Paige is a complete 180 from the pre-accident Paige, which itself is commendable. From her stance to her language and behaviour, McAdams performance is really, really good.

As for Tatum, he's just there. However women will get to see Tatum's bum on the big screen, so this will be another reason for you ladies to see the film. His acting, however, is just not up to par with his costar McAdams. The pair did have some decent chemistry on screen, but I felt they weren't quiet right. But then again that's my opinion. But the story was decent, it had McAdams doing what she does best and there were some funny dialogue so the film wasn't a total loss. It was entertaining enough to hold my attention.

THE VOW is far from being a modern day romance classic like THE NOTEBOOK and TITANIC, but it does give women a reason to go out the cinemas, Plus it's sappy enough for them to like it and to enjoy watching with their special someone. So men, if you're looking for something fun to do with your wife/girlfriend this Valentine's Day, take her to see this film. You might not like it, but she will, and her happiness is the most important thing for you to give her. Three out of five stars.

THE VOW is currently playing in theaters nationwide, including at the Camera Cinemas here in the Bay Area. To view showtimes, visit their website at www.cameracinemas.com. 

Thanks for reading, and enjoy the show!

Phil sees BRIDESMAIDS at the Camera 7 Pruneyard-May 15, 2011

Just looking at the film's poster makes me laugh. Five bridesmaids looking tough and sexy in the tight, form-fitting, frilly pink dresses, while the the bride radiates attitude, with a look that screams, "touch me and I'm gonna kick your ass!" Yes, it's one of my favorite posters so far this year. And it's also one of my favorite comedies so far this year as well. With the most outrageous comedic scenes ever captured on film, BRIDESMAIDS is, without a shadow of a doubt, the best anti-chick flick I have ever seen!

The film stars Saturday Night Live cast member Kristen Wiig as Annie, who's life has become an absolute mess. However, when her best friend Lillian (former SNL cast member Mya Rudolph) becomes engaged, she must pull herself together and bluff her way through the job as her friend's maid of honor. However, Annie is flat broke and cannot afford anything for the wedding, even her dress. Things get worse when Lillian's new friend Helen (Rose Byrne) attempts to upstage Annie to become Lillian's maid of honor. Throw in a motley crew of bridesmaids (Melissa McCarthy, Wendi McLendon-Covey, and Ellie Kemper) and you have one helluva trainwreck just waiting to happen.

The entire cast is hilarious! I could go into detail on how all these ladies are funny, but then I would risk exposing all the funny, gross out, unbeliebable, touching, hysterical scenes of the film. Best if I don't go into detail, but I will see say this: when you see Lillian squating down and taking a crap in the middle of a busy street in her bridal gown, you know that you're in for a good time.

Kristen Wiig's performance of Annie really is stupendious. She's funny, and yet sympathetic. We all at one point in our lives hit rock bottom, and sometimes it feel s like we can't get out of that hole. But Annie transitions throughout the film, making the mistakes so she can correct them later. Along the way, she realizes that life does have its fair share of disappointments, but that doesn't mean that you can't take chances and start living again. I loved Wiig's performance in this film. Also, major thumbs up for the rest of our ladies! Mya is perfect as Wigg's best friend, Byrne's Helen is a snooty, rich bitch that we all love to hate, and McCarthy's Megan is so out there that I can't even think of an adjective to desribe her!

Overall BRIDESMAIDS is simply one of the best comedies that is made for women, but fellas, you will get a kick out of this film too. The film was produced by Judd Aptow, the same man who brought us KNOCKED UP, THE 40 YEAR-OLD VIRGIN, and FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL. Aptow brings that kind of over the top humor over to the ladies, and they take it and run with it! Look, just do all yourselves a favor, and go see this film. Afterwards ladies, make sure your man isn't tramatized of getting married. Remind him that it's only a movie. Then tell him you want to see the movie again.

BRIDESMAIDS is currently playing nationwide, including at the Camera Cinemas here in San Jose. To view showtimes, visit http://www.cameracinemas.com/index.shtml

Thanks for reading, and enjoy the show!