Let’s Be Cops review

Director:
Steve Quale
Cast:
Matt Walsh
Sarah Wayne Callies
Richard Armitage
Max Deacon
Nathan Kress
Rated: PG-13

Ryan (Johnson) and Justin (Wayans) are a couple of guys pushing 30 who are trying to make it living in Los Angeles, but don’t appear to be going anywhere in life. Justin isn’t making progress as a game developer and Ryan is still trying to ride the success of a commercial he starred in.

One night when the two are preparing to go to a costume party, they decide to dress as cops. It all comes off as fun to the two buddies as people actually believe they are from law enforcement, however, things take a turn for the worse when real officers and the mob think they are police, too.

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Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles review

Director:
Jonathan Liebesman
Cast:
Johnny Knoxville
Alan Ritchson
Noel Fisher
Jeremy Howard
Tony Shalhoub
Megan Fox
Will Arnett
William Fichtner
Rated: PG-13

Yo dudes this is no cartoon. Well, the turtles are animated, so technically it sort of is a cartoon.

The 2014 “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” is a retelling of the comic book/cartoon series phenomenon of the late 80s and early 90s. The movie follows the character April O’Neil (Fox), a young TV reporter just starting her career, who is trying to break a story on a secretive group of criminals called the Foot Clan.

On one of her assignments she comes across four mutant turtles who have been trained in the art of being a ninja. As the plot thickens, April finds out that she has a connection to the turtles from her youth and also to the mysterious Foot Clan.

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Sex Tape review

Director:
Jake Kasdan
Cast:
Cameron Diaz
Jason Segel
Rob Corddry
Ellie Kemper
Rob Lowe
Rated: R

Annie (Diaz) and Jay (Segel) are a married couple who seem to have lost the spark in their marriage. Now that they have kids, careers and other responsibilities, their sex lives have suffered. To get back to the type of relationship they had in college, Annie comes up with an idea. However, the morning after, the couple finds that the sex tape they made the night before was uploaded to a cloud network that is connected to multiple iPads. Because of this, the couple go on a search and destroy mission to eliminate all copies of the video.

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Begin Again review

Director:
John Carney
Cast:
Mark Ruffalo
Hailee Steinfeld
Keira Knightley
Adam Levine
Rated: R

Mark Ruffalo plays a music producer down on his luck in “Begin Again” while Keira Knightley plays a musician who is going through a bad breakup. One night the two meet by chance and decide to try working together to produce an album. Through the collaboration, the two begin to remember what they enjoy about music and it allows them to find out how to move forward in their personal lives.

I was a bit worried in the first few minutes of “Begin Again,” since it looked like Ruffalo was going to play a stereotypical down on his luck type of guy who drinks too much. While his character certainly falls into some tropes, though, Ruffalo really sells an honesty in the character and his supporting cast helps raise the bar.

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Tammy review

Director:
Ben Falcone
Cast:
Melissa McCarthy
Susan Surandon
Kathy Bates
Mark Duplass
Rated: R

I would say that Melissa McCarthy was typecast in this movie, but I won’t since she co-wrote the thing.

“Tammy” follows the life of the title character, played by McCarthy, who is experiencing one of the worst days one could have. First, she loses her job for being late to work, and that is followed by a discovery that her husband is cheating on her. After those disasters, she decides to leave town to clear her head. She doesn’t make the trip alone, though, as her grandma Pearl (Surandon) decides to tag along.

From there the two go off on a few wild adventures where they meet up with old and new friends and Tammy makes a pit stop to rob a fast food restaurant.

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REVIEW: ‘Think Like a Man Too’

Director:
Tim Story
Cast:
Michael Ealy
Jerry Ferrara
Meagan Good
Regina Hall
Taraji P. Henson
Terrence Jenkins
Romany Malco
Wendi McLendon-Covey
Gabrielle Union
David Walton
Kevin Hart
Rated: PG-13

Think Like a Man Too is a sequel to a 2012 romantic comedy which followed the lives of multiple characters going through a variety of relationships. The original film was held together through the use of Steve Harvey’s relationship advice and worked to a point.

The 2014 film abandons that notion and decides to embrace practically every cliche in the book for a Vegas flick. In this movie, the characters all return for a wedding in Las Vegas and decide to have some partying the night before. From there, chaos ensues.

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REVIEW: ’22 Jump Street’

Director:
Phil Lord, Christopher Miller
Cast:
Jonah Hill
Channing Tatum
Ice Cube
Peter Stormare
Rated: R

The comedic chemistry of Hill and Tatum is back in “22 Jump Street” and this time they take on the whole idea of a sequel.

The sequel to the 2012 film continues right after the first one ended. Hill and Tatum, playing undercover cops Schmidt and Jenko once again have trouble out in the field and their police chief decides to send them back to the Jump Street Unit.

There, Captain Dickson (Ice Cube) gives the two the same type of case as last time, where they have to find the dealer and the supplier of a new drug, but this time, it’s on a college campus.

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REVIEW: ‘Chef’

Director:
Jon Favreau
Cast:
Jon Favreau
John Leguizamo
Emjay Anthony
Sofia Vergara
Rated: R

After a string of high budget blockbusters, Director Jon Favreau has returned to the smaller screen in the indie comedy “Chef.”

Not only does Favreau direct the picture, he writes and stars as the main character, too. Favreau plays Carl Casper, A chef who has had a relatively good career working at an upscale restaurant in Los Angeles. While his career has gone somewhat smoothly, the same cannot be said for his family life.

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Rio 2 review

Director:
Carlos Saldanha
Cast:
Jesse Eisenberg
Jamie Foxx
Jemaine Clement
Andy Garcia
Anne Hathaway
Rated: G

Does an animated movie about birds need this many sub plots?

“Rio 2” carries on the story of Blu, voiced by Jesse Eisenberg. Blu, who formally lived in Minnesota during the first movie, now lives with his wife Jewel (Hathaway) and their children in a forest sanctuary near Rio, being kept safe as they are the only birds of their kind.

That is until more of their species is discovered by an expedition conducted by the film’s lead human protagonists. Blu’s family and friends eagerly travel to the Amazon where the rest of the species lives and he reluctantly tags along. When they arrive they find out that their species is led by Jewel’s long lost father Eduardo (Garcia).

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Mr. Peabody and Sherman review

Director:
Rob Minkoff
Cast:
Ty Burrell
Max Charles
Ariel Winter
Allison Janney
Rated: PG

This movie was like an ocean of puns, and it was great.

“Mr. Peabody and Sherman” is a film based on animated shorts that were featured in the “Rocky and Bullwinkle” show. The movie, which expands on the original concept, follows the title character Mr. Peabody (Burrell), a genius dog who can do practically anything including building a time machine called the WABAC. Mr. Peabody also is the adopted father of a boy named Sherman (Charles) and teaches him about various historic moments.

Conflicts start up, though, when a mishap occurs at Sherman’s school when he gets into a fight with a girl named Penny (Winter). This brings in a social worker named Ms. Grunion (Janney) who doesn’t think Peabody makes for a good father.

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