My Review: Casa de Mi Padre (3/10)

"If you were smart you would know that you are dumb."

Directed by Matt Piedmont (known mostly for his work in Saturday Night Live and the Funny or Die videos) and written by Andrew Steele, Casa de Mi Padre, is a spoof on the Mexican tele novellas. It was a nice idea, but poorly executed considering there were very few funny moments and five minutes into the film the gags wore off. This could have worked much better as a 5 minute skit in SNL, but it doesn't have enough comedic moments to carry the film for 80 minutes. I'll give Casa De Mi Padre credit for being original and for trying something different, but the story just dragged during most of the film. Will Ferrell surprised me as he delivered all his lines in spanish by learning them phonetically; he may not have spoken perfect spanish but he did a decent job and I had no problem understanding him. Unfortunately despite having an interesting idea for the film, the execution was just too simple and the laughs were practically nonexistent. Casa De Mi Padre is a hollow film and there isn't much more to it.

Armando Alvarez (Will Ferrell) has been living in his father's ranch in Mexico all his life. He's not bright, but he's loyal to his father, Miguel (Pedro Armendariz Jr.). He spends most of his time with his buddies, Esteban (Efren Ramirez) and Manuel (Adrian Martinez) goofing around while he cares for his father's animals. His younger brother, Raul (Diego Luna), is an international businessman who has returned to save the ranch and introduce his new fiancé, Sonia (Genesis Rodriguez), to the family. However, Raul seems to be running an illegitimate business and Armando warns him he has brought trouble to the ranch. The town's drug lord, Onza (Gael Garcia Bernal), has declared war on Raul for interfering in his area, while Raul has also drawn the attention of DEA Agent Parker (Nick Offerman).

Will Ferrell is a funny guy and most of his films work for me, but Casa De Mi Padre is just too dull and uninspired. It's a shame because there is a talented cast, Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal are two of the best Mexican actors, Nick Offerman always delivers, and Genesis Rodriguez is a beautiful actress. I grew up in South America, so I'm familiar with the novellas they were trying to spoof, but after five minutes the jokes wore off. The trailers made me believe this was going to be hilarious, but it wasn't at all. There were some funny moments involving the production design and the animatronic white jaguar, but everything else was poorly executed.

My Review: In A World...(7/10)

"This Wednesday, one woman will teach another woman to sound a little less retarded."

Lake Bell starred, directed, and wrote the screenplay for this quirky romantic comedy which doesn't follow the normal standards of a genre film and at times feels like it's all over the place, but the awkward and goofy humor really worked for me. The kind of humor in In a World isn't for everyone, but I had a blast because I have a similar weird sense of humor like this. Bell was great in this film and I really liked her goofy character, she was charming. I had a lot of fun with this story and enjoyed all the quirky characters, but despite all the goofiness the film does make a statement about sexism in the film industry. Perhaps it is a bit heavy handed in the way it hammers the issue over and over again but the satire of Hollywood and all the back stabbings involved in the business worked extremely well for me. This screwball comedy is a bit ambitious but it works thanks to some charming performances and a tender romantic backstory.

The film opens with a tribute to the now deceased Don LaFontaine (who was the king of movie trailer voice-overs) through archival interview footage. In the interview Don's close friend and also a voice-over artist, Sam Sotto (Fred Melamed), is sharing his memories with the legend who coined the phrase "in a world" at the beginning of most of the movie trailers he lent his voice to. The other person interviewed is Don's son, Gustav (Ken Marino), who has inherited his father's empire and follows his foot steps as well. Sam has also been mentoring Gustav who he considers to be the future of the voice-over world. We are then introduced to Sam's daughter, Carol (Lake Bell), who has been working as a voice coach for other actors helping them on their accents and dialects. Carol doesn't make enough money to live on her own so she moves in with her sister, Dani (Michaela Watkins) who is married with Moe (Rob Corddry). Her life turns around when she agrees to do a voice-over gig that a young shy kid named Louis (Demetri Martin) offers her. Louis runs a sound mixing studio along with Heners (Nick Offerman) named Sound Mix-A-Lot. Carol does her job so well that she quickly begins getting more offers and all of a sudden has become a threat in the male dominated voice-over profession, competing against her father and Don's son. 

Lake Bell is charismatic and her character has a lot of spark in this film which allows her to carry the movie despite being all over the place at times with different subplots. She is easy to route for in a male dominated world which she is about to interfere with. The story has many awkward moments which I found silly, but charming. She had great chemistry with Demetri Martin and their romantic story was more tender than what we usually see in a Hollywood rom-com. In a World is unbalanced at times, but the individual performances make each turn worth it. Nick Offerman and Rob Corddry were great in their secondary roles and they gave the film that extra spark that was needed. There were also some entertaining cameos. Lake Bell's solid work here leaves me interested in her upcoming projects because she has proved she has talent and a voice that should be heard.

My Review: The LEGO Movie (7/10)

"Let's take extra care to follow the instructions or you'll be put to sleep, and don't forget Taco Tuesday's coming next week."

The directors behind this very creative and imaginative animated film, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (21 Jump Street), deliver a highly entertaining and hilarious movie thanks to a sharp script which is packed with extremely funny lines and hundreds of pop culture references. It also benefits from a talented cast who do excellent voice work here. Despite being a film that promotes its very own Lego empire, it still works because it has lots of heart and reaches to kids and adults alike. Kids who are fans of the TV series Ninjago will have a great time with this film, while adults will love the witty script beside the fact that it will touch their nostalgic senses. The Lego movie took me back to my childhood days and reminded me of when I played with these building blocks and invented adventures as I played with them. In a way this film felt like I was watching a very smart and creative kid playing with his Lego figures. I can think of no other movie where you get so many pop cultural references as this one. In what other film do you get to see an NBA star like Shaq share a scene with a Ninja Turtle, Batman, Han Solo, Gandalf, Dumbledore, and Wonder Woman all together? These character cameos keep on coming throughout the film with silly but hilarious and witty one-liners. 

Emmet Brickowoski (Chris Pratt) is an ordinary Lego mini-figure who is content with his life following orders from Lord Business (Will Ferrell) as well as most of the other citizens. What they don't know is that Lord Business is planning on gluing their universe together. When Emmet stumbles across a mysterious block he is mistakenly identified as the chosen one and considered to be one of the MasterBuilders called to save the world. He is drafted by Wyldstyle (Elizabeth Banks) and is introduced to the different Lego universes that Lord Business has been keeping separated. He teams up with other MasterBuilders like Batman (Will Arnett), Unikitty (Alison Brie), Metal Beard (Nick Offerman), and several others all led by the old wise man Vitruvius (Morgan Freeman). Together they begin a quest to stop Lord Business from destroying their worlds, but they have to face fierce opposition from Bad Cop (Liam Neeson) and the rest of the police force who serve Lord Business. A task which Emmet isn't really prepared for as he is simply an ordinary mini figure, but who everyone is depending on to save the world. 

The plot is a little over the top and silly, but it works thanks to some great gags and witty dialogues. The script writers, Dan Hageman, Kevin Hageman, Lord, and Miller know their pop culture references and use it to their advantage. It took me a while to get used to the animation style as it was done by using Lego figures in stop motion and combing it with CGI effects. They did paint a colorful and imaginative world and soon I was won over by the style of the film. It's a fast paced movie and one that you will probably have no problem in wanting to go back and rewatching it considering the jokes are so fast paced that you might have missed lots of them.