Movie Reviews: A Simple Favor and Mandy

Jeff D Lowe9/19/2018 5:36 PM

We have two whoppers for you this week with reviews of ‘A Simple Favor’ starring Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick and ‘Mandy’ starring Nic Cage. Make sure to rate all 2018 movies at the bottom of this post. Let’s go!

Jeff (90/100): One of the surprise movies of the year, ‘A Simple Favor’ a fantastic “whodunnit?” that will keep you guessing, laughing and engaged from start to finish. I am not a fan of most of Paul Fieg’s work, especially the ‘Ghostbusters’ reboot, which was an incredibly bad movie that leaned far too much on story derailing improv. A change of pace from his regular movies, Fieg finds a way to utilize some great actresses and actors with a witty script and creative story.

‘A Simple Favor’ is a dark comedy thriller with a bit of a ‘Gone Girl’ slant to it. The movie does offer up a ton of twists and some of them might be tough to follow, but I think it fits the tone and pacing of the movie perfectly. There’s no denying that the movie is pretty wild, but that’s a big reason why I loved it. It doesn’t play it safe and takes some risks by being a bold story. In a summer where there were so many duds, it was just refreshing to go and see this movie.

Blake Lively and Anna Kendrick are a fantastic one-two punch and they play off each other perfectly throughout their interactions in the movie. I’d go as far to say this is one of Lively’s better roles from her entire filmography. Anna Kendrick is playing a character that perfectly suits her acting style and personality. It isn’t quite as good as her Academy Award-nominated performance in ‘Up in the Air’, but it is also one of her better acting jobs. I also have to credit Henry Golding, recently in ‘Crazy Rich Asians’, who also helped carry the story.

As I said earlier, the summer of 2018 has been pretty terrible for movies with big stars, so it’s great that ‘A Simple Favor’ finds a way to end it on a high note. It’s a movie that snuck up on people, but the praise it is receiving is very well deserved. I highly suggest going out to see this movie as soon as possible.

SIDE NOTE: Big shout out to Andrew Rannells, who was in the original run of ‘The Book of Mormon’ on Broadway from ‘South Park’ creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone. It’s one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen.

KenJac (91/100): Paul Feig from the clouds! After his disaster in ‘Ghostbusters’, he has pulled off an engaging, captivating and beautiful story that felt absolutely effortless. The casting was perfect, with each actress and actor performing like they were born for their roles. Lastly, it was just fun, which is essentially the highest compliment I can give a movie.

Anna Kendrick (‘Pitch Perfect’) plays a stay-at-home vlogger mom who gets swept up in the chic, cosmopolitan lives of Blake Lively (‘Gossip Girl’) and Henry Golding (‘Crazy Rich Asians’). Kendrick is essentially born for this role, which required the perfect blend of awkwardness and naïveté. You like that fancy French word? Blake Lively does an incredible job, playing the dominating, no-bullshit PR executive. I did a whole separate blog for this, but I’m still stunned by her wardrobe in this movie. The story revolves more around Kendrick and Lively’s relationship, so Henry Golding doesn’t have a huge workload. That said, he plays the role of a struggling and sub husband better than I expected after his role in ‘Crazy Rich Asians’. Lastly, I need to note that the ancillary characters in the movie cracked me up at every turn. Andrew Rannells (‘The Intern’) and Aparna Nancherla (‘Master of None’) were the two big standouts.

The adapted script for this movie was effortlessly quick and outright hilarious at points. The banter between the big three characters felt very natural, with no lines coming off as forced or uncharacteristic. The plot moved fast, giving you a trail of breadcrumbs that is never quite substantial enough for you to figure out exactly what is going on until the end. The cinematography is beautiful as well, taking full advantage of the suburban setting and the beautiful cast members.

This is easily the best new release in theaters, and well worth the watch. Anyone who likes suspenseful crime movies, quick scripts, or even just black comedies will love this. Make more movies like this, Paul Feig!

Jeff (87/100): A visual treat, ‘Mandy’ is another new movie from Nic Cage where he embraces his insane personality and acting style, and boy does he crush it. ‘Mandy’ is basically a “grindhouse” type movie and is available to rent and stream right now. I almost had to give it a 100/100 just for being able to watch it online in the comfort of my own home.

Let me be clear: this is a weird ass movie. If you don’t like dipping out of the conventional realm of movies, you will surely not love ‘Mandy’ all that much. The movie is an insane revenge film with lots of flashy, artsy scenes and plenty of action and gore. Nic Cage, obviously, is the star of the movie and his performance is gripping, gritty and authentic. While I want a ‘National Treasure 3’, I just don’t think it makes sense for Cage to do anything other than these independent type films that cater to his bizarre, but intriguing, acting style.

I’ll say it again, this movie is very different and will not be for everyone, but if you’re willing to take on something unique, you should clear your schedule and watch ‘Mandy’ as soon as possible.

KenJac (87/100): ‘Mandy’ is essentialy ‘John Wick’ except on acid, coke, shrooms, and Quaaludes all at the same time. It’s a psychotic symphony of colors, music and ambient sound that complement the casting of Nic Cage (‘Face/Off’). While it’s definitely not for the faint of heart, director Panos Cosmatos put together a movie that does exactly what it sets out to do in freaking the fuck out of viewers.

The weird thing about the plot is that it is fairly conventional, but the way it is shot makes you forget that entirely. The retro-style horror imagery and ambient noise combined with a Jóhann Jóhannsson (‘Sicario’) synth-heavy soundtrack set in a modern revenge movie help with that. One of the things I’ll note is that the plot takes some time to get off the ground, but once you get over that hump it goes extremely fast. Cage puts on a perfectly Nic Cage performance, complete with him screaming animal sounds while chugging vodka on the toilet and fighting dudes in gimp masks wearing the weird bladed strap-on thing from ‘Seven’. The next best performance comes from Linus Roache (‘Vikings’), who plays a psycho cult leader who is very disturbing. You also get to see his dick and balls, which is something.

If you’re not into retro or arthouse movies, this might not be the movie for you. However, Max Kellerman, if you’re a Cage fan, this is him at his finest. It’s a fucking trip and a great movie for any late-night horror lovers.

—
How about that! All three movies are Officially Buttered right now and we will update with Trillballins’ score once everyone’s favorite new father sees the movies. We will be reviewing ‘The Predator’ in tonight’s episode of Lights, Camera, Barstool with special guest Francis (subscribe here). Make sure to rate the movies in the links below, as well as other 2018 movies.

September (‘A Simple Favor’ and ‘Mandy’): https://goo.gl/forms/99QlmfQM9AQC5xFj2
January: https://goo.gl/forms/nNzX19HbebeQMUAA3
February: https://goo.gl/forms/DWG9TJMISLzUunsu2
March: https://goo.gl/forms/k0dL5ozOrhwJ2Bk03
April: https://goo.gl/forms/Z218hqWq3XGyqi9C3
May: https://goo.gl/forms/f5aYcpJHnBMmkcs52
June: https://goo.gl/forms/1sfizEF3LCTcXFrh2
July: https://goo.gl/forms/czBxbSMjxAUC6CiI3
August: https://goo.gl/forms/QrUn8VtKXvshaWoO2