Dirty Grandpa

Robert De Niro and Zac Efron

Hello its been a while and I need to write.

Last weekend I saw Dirty Grandpa staring Robert De Niro and Zac Efron. Directed by Dan Mazer who has directed the Ali G show and produced films such as: Borat and Burno. If you have never heard or seen these films before click the links to their IMDB pages and watch their trailers at your own discretion.

Seeing Zac Efron and Robert De Niro together in a film made me think of the film Neighbors (american spelling pff) where the frat boys have a De Niro party.

The Dirty Grandpa follows a grandfather, grandson duo on their rediscovery of each other. The film is meant to be one of those stupid funny films. Most of the jokes are about, drugs, sex and sexuality. It tries really hard and I did laugh at times but, over all it wasn't very good.

It's nice to see De Niro in comedy again, though this film doesn't even come close to Meet The Parents or The Intern which I really enjoyed.

Meredith (Julianne Hough)

Okay, so a quick synopsis of the film. Our two leads Dick (Robert De Nrio) and Jason (Zack Efron) come together at a funeral for Jason's Grandmother, Dick's wife. Jason is suppose to take his Grandfather to Florida play some golf and come back to plan his wedding. His fiance Meredith (Julianne Hough) show us what it looks like to have a man whipped. She is controlling and needy, Dick sees this and is trying to save his grandson from an awful marriage.  In the process they meet a group of college students heading  down to Daytona beach for spring break.

The idea for this film isn't horrible, it's not really original but its not bad. The execution of this idea is less than what you would expect. The jokes are very unintelligent and relies heavily on stupid comedy. When I was part of an improv club we were always told to play to the height or our intelligence. Scenes that had smart humour and call backs always had the best type of set ups and long lasting jokes. Sexual jokes can only go so far until the crowd gets bored of them. Maybe the writers of this film should join my old improv club because they could benefit from some creative learning.

The writers even botched the ending to add in a few more sexual gags that would have been better suited in the middle of the film. The ending should have ended near when Dick gives Jason the camera.

I can't talk much about the filmography of the film since its filmed on location. The only thing I can say is that I've been to Daytona beach and it did not look as fun when I was there or as nice. Either things have changed or this is not Daytona beach.

Over all you can go on without watching this film.

Badge: Jar-Jar
Rating 3/10

Disney's Cinderella

 Hello! Sorry everyone it's been a few weeks since my last post. I've been busy! 

Welcome to Mc's Film Critique! Recently I watched Disney's Cinderella (not by choice) and I knew nothing about this particular film going in.

I watched the trailer before writing this post and if you're reading this and have not seen the film or the trailer, good for you! Don't watch the trailer as-per-usual, it gives away just about everything! I really hate when trailers do that. Here is the link to the Trailer if you want to see it (don't click unless you're sure).

This version of the fairy tale I think is second only to the Brothers Grim version which is awesome! The film starts of with Cinderella living with both of her parents, something that you will recall is not true in Disney's original motion picture. This works really well because when she is left with her step-mother and step-sisters you're far more invested in her character.

(left to right) Helena, Lily, Richard and Cate

I thought the acting was really good. Cate Blanchett played her part to the top of her performing abilities. She gave a spectacular portrayal of the stepmother. Lily James did a great job playing opposite of Blanchett and showed us a Cinderella who can hold her own. Richard Madden former star of Game of Thrones, seems to have been chosen for both his acting and his good looks. He gave a very desirable portrayal of a prince. Like I said strong cast.

There was a lot of CGI animals, and I'm ever more impressed with animators, because the CGI looks more and more real each year. Click here for a top 10 worst CGI list by Watchmojo.com

The transformation from an everyday girl to princess was over the top! I already said how good the animation was but I will say it again, it was really good! The way each different aspect of her carriage was assembled and transformed was fantastic. I particularly liked how each transformed thing retained some of its previous forms aspects.


I would have liked a little more depth from the step sisters, they were pretty dimwitted. There is also some secret past of the step mother which never really gets flushed out, which sucks because I wanted more from this aspect of the story. It's just teased, which was a shame as it could have given more to the story, but oh well.


Overall good film! Go watch it! As my friend Jeff has said "Disney has been killing it lately, eh!"





Badge: Cinematography Badge 
Rating: 9/10

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1

This week on Mc's Film Critique I watched The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1.

I want to start off by saying that I never read this book series. I was told about it by a camper in summer camp years ago. My interest was peaked enough to see the first film. I thoroughly like dystopian/ utopian fiction. I was required to read a book called WE by Yevgeny Zamyatin for one of my history classes and LOVED IT! That being said, I will go watch this type of film any day of the week, good or bad just to see what's what. 


Lets dive into this film. It is the third installment of the Hunger Games series adapted from the books of the same name. I don't like watching a film half way through and not getting to the end, so I will watch this series to the end. I have a need to find out what happened. This film is a part 1 of a final chapter to this story and unlike the Hobbit which I had problems with (click here for that blog), the ending in this film feels satisfactory. The entire series has not been concluded yet, but the film has a logical ending. As a viewer, you get a  sense of closure but the film leaves you eager to see Part 2 of this series.

Buttercup The Cat

The film is slow paced in comparison to The Hunger Games and The Hunger Games: Catching Fire,  but it's setting the stage for the second part. When the DVD comes out, watching part one and two in succession will be awesome!

The effects in the film looked really good. When they were in a forest, destroyed  buildings, city or aircraft it all looked real. 


The story didn't have any unnecessary plot points. Even the choice to take a cat had purpose in the film (yes, there was a cat and it's fluffy). The characters acted in what felt like real life, driven by emotion and a sense of duty. Jennifer Lawrence  gave us a great performance, as did the rest of the cast. Natalie Dormer is in this film. You may recognize her from the popular show Game of Thrones, making this film a must see if you haven't yet. 

Natalie Dormer

Like I said earlier the film is slow paced, something people may not like in comparison to the two films before it.

I recommend this film. It makes up for the the previous blunders of the other two films in this series.

Badge: None
Rating: 8/10