01st Aug2022

DC League of Super-Pets – Film

by timbaros

dc-super-pets-header-mobile-newDwayne Johnson stars as the voice of Krypto the Super-Dog in Warner Bros. Pictures’ animated action adventure feature film “DC League of Super-Pets,” from director Jared Stern.

The film also stars the voices of Kevin Hart (the “Jumanji” and “Secret Life of Pets” films), Kate McKinnon (“Saturday Night Live,” the “Magic School Bus Rides Again” films, “Ferdinand”), John Krasinski (the “Quiet Place” films, “Free Guy”), Vanessa Bayer (“Saturday Night Live,” “Office Christmas Party,” “Trainwreck”), Natasha Lyonne (“Show Dogs,” “Ballmastrz 9009”), Diego Luna (“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” “Maya and the Three”), Marc Maron (“Joker,” “GLOW”), Thomas Middleditch (“Godzilla: King of the Monsters,” “Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie”), Ben Schwartz (“Sonic the Hedgehog,” “Duck Tales”), and Keanu Reeves (the “Matrix” and “John Wick” films).

In “DC League of Super-Pets,” Krypto the Super-Dog and Superman are inseparable best friends, sharing the same superpowers and fighting crime in Metropolis side by side. When Superman and the rest of the Justice League are kidnapped, Krypto must convince a rag-tag shelter pack—Ace the hound, PB the potbellied pig, Merton the turtle and Chip the squirrel—to master their own newfound powers and help him rescue the superheroes.

Stern, a veteran writer/consultant on the “LEGO®” movies, makes his animated feature film directorial debut, directing from a screenplay he wrote with frequent collaborator John Whittington, based on characters from DC, Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. The film is produced by Patricia Hicks, Dwayne Johnson, Dany Garcia, Hiram Garcia and Jared Stern. The executive producers are John Requa, Glenn Ficarra, Nicholas Stoller, Allison Abbate, Chris Leahy, Sharon Taylor and Courtenay Valenti.

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25th Jul2017

Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie (Film)

by timbaros

captain-underpants-sq1300_s840_f243_RGB_FIN_rgbA cheeky children’s series of novels has now been turned into a gleeful and silly animated film. It’s “Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie.”

Yes, in case you weren’t aware of this popular children’s book series by Dav Pilkey, it has our superhero fighting crime wearing a cape and his white underpants – Y fronts. But he’s actually the creation (and from the imagination) of George (voiced by Kevin Hart) and Harold (Thomas Middleditch), 4th grade friends and next door neighbors. They are king of the pranks at their elementary school so it’s no surprise that when principal Benjamin Krupp (Ed Helms) threatens to separate them, they, through their self-created comic book, and after one unfortunate prank that goes wrong, turns Mr. Krupp into Captain Underpants! But the boys want to keep Mr. Krupp in his superhero kit so he doesn’t turn back into the mean principal who is going to separate them. But they can’t keep him wandering around town in his underpants all the time. They also have to deal with the nerd inventor prodigy Melvin (Jordan Peele) as well as the new mad science teacher Professor Poopypants (Nick Kroll), who is up to his own evil plans.

For the little boy in you (and that would be boys who will sure find this animated film funny, as it’s pretty much that kind of humor), but the rest of us will shake our heads at the silliness of it all.

If this is the first (as per the name of the movie) in a series of more Captain Underpants movies, I’m not too sure it’s going to be a good thing.

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06th Mar2014

Ride Along – Film

by timbaros

images-123Kevin Hart is now the new Eddie Murphy! He was last seen in Grudge Match, practically stealing the film from both Robert DeNiro and Sylvester Stallone, and now he is starring in a new movie tailor-made for his comedic skill – it is called Ride Along.

 The diminutive Hart (at 5 feet, 4 inches tall) is a powerhouse comedian who made his name doing stand up. He’s been seen in quite a few films over the past ten years, including 2003’s Scary Movie 3 and 2010’s Little Fockers. But it was his role as boxing promoter Dante Slate Jr. in Grudge Match where he really proved his own (against heavy hitters Robert DeNiro and Sylvester Stallone). In Ride Along, Hart’s comedic skills are put to good use as a security guard who wants to become a police officer, to prove that he is worthy of marrying the beautiful Angela (Tika Sumpter) but is thwarted at every turn by her over-protective brother James Payton (Ice Cube), who is an actual police officer.
In order to prove to Angela, and to Payton, that he can make it as a police office, Ben Barber (Hart) applies for and gets accepted to the police acamedy. He then ‘rides along’ for a day with his potential brother-in-law to see and feel what it is like to be a cop. Ben is a video-game junkie, but he wants to experience first-hand what being a cop is like, and in addition prove to James that he has what it takes to care of Angela.
But little does Ben know that James has set him up with many dangerous (and funny) situations.
Think of Ride Along as Training Day with lots of laughs. As this is what Hart provides, laughs at every turn. His first ‘assignment’ is to tell some of the rough Hell’s Angels motorcyclists to move their bikes as they are parked in a handicapped area. They stand their ground, trying to intimidate Ben, and they do, but Ben stands his ground. Of course, these Hell’s Angels were there as a setup that James arranged! In another scene, Ben has to restrain a large man who appears to be going crazy in a grocery store, having poured honey all over his body. It is up to Ben to restrain him, and literally getting stuck to him. You won’t see any other comedian doing this type of stuff in any movie, I guarantee you. But the main plot of the film is where James is investigating, and trying to capture, one of the city’s most dangerous criminals, Omar. Of course, Ben gets jist of the investigation and you can image how the film is going to end.
While Ride Along may not be intended for serious audiences, it does, fortunately, know this and creates situations for Hart to show his very funny side. And while the script may be a bit predictable, it is the jokes that are not, and it is Hart’s delivery of the jokes and the situations that he is in that makes him ready to take the crown of King of Comedy that Eddie Murphy once held many years ago. Ride Along features cameos by Laurence Fishburne (as Omar) and John Leguizamo.