The Brothers Grimsby Review - Chamorro's Watchin' Movies

Hafa Adai and welcome to Chamorro Cinema! It's just me your neighborhood friendly Island Boy Manuel here with another review of a Sacha Baron Cohen movie. This time it's The Brothers Grimsby, released in 2016. So, was it good? Bad? Maybe a little of both? Let's find out as I dig into the The Brothers Grimsby.

The trailer looked promising, the basic setup is that Nobby (Sacha Baron Cohen) is a dimwitted English slob and his long lost brother Sebastian (Mark Strong) is a secret agent. They find each other after nearly 30 years and hi jinx ensue...I'll admit I thought this looked funny, but I was wrong...very wrong.

Let me start by saying that inside (deep inside) this movie there is a decent spy movie that examines in fine dramatic prose, the relationship between two brothers torn apart by circumstance and reconnect against a thrilling tale of intrigue. All of the flashback sequences of their childhood are engrossing and the child actors do a great job. The spy tech and an awesome first person sequence early in the film are smart and very well executed.

The problems come from Cohen and his once edgy humor. Nearly every joke fell flat to me, they seemed desperate for laughs, grasping at every gross out scenario.  Nobby is at times so dumb it actually takes you out of the movie and although Sebastian is much easier to take there are times when the film jumps the proverbial shark or in this case F***s the proverbial elephant.

It's a shame because there are gripping scenes that are suddenly undermined by Cohen with a firework up his butt, or Strong covered in semen. Every ounce of good the movie has is suddenly sucked away like poison from a testicle. What's worse is the non physical jokes are way behind the times (Daniel Ratcliff and Vin Diesel jokes anyone?).

The actors seem like they are all doing this film because they owe someone a favor, with the exception of Baron Cohen who seems like the kid sitting under the playground eating worms to try to impress people. This is made all the sadder because there is a crazy amount of talent in this film. Isla Fisher, Rebel Wilson, Penélope Cruz, Gabourey Sidibe and Ian McShane all have roles in this clunker!

The bottom line is don't see this film. It was bad even by Borat standards.

Thanks for reading. Be sure to check us out on YouTube, like us on Facebook and you can follow me on Twitter. Peace!

Nerds Reacting to Youtube Ep. 003: A-Blog Review

The Purge Review

Hafa Adai! Welcome to Chamorro Cinema, I'm your host Island Boy Manuel and today I am reviewing the 2013 surprise hit, The Purge.

In what is easily one of the most inventive and interesting premises recent memory, the 'New Founding Fathers" have instituted an annual 12-hour holiday that they call "The Purge". during the Purge all crime including murder is made legal (with the exception of high ranking government officials of course). The film toys with some big ideas including how this keeps our current system of income inequality in place as the rich get an opportunity to kill off the poor and homeless, thus keeping tension off the social safety net. This could have been a truly interesting exploration of systemic racism and class warfare...but instead it squanders it's promise and becomes a typical home invasion movie. 

The cast lead by Ethan Hawke, Lena Headey and a villianous Rhys Wakefield do a fine job with the material. This is especially true of Wakefield, who is delightfully creepy and hammy. The two child actors in the film, as well as the homeless man at the center of the conflict, are all serviceable but are given very little to do.

The story centers around Hawke and Headey's family as they lock down and settle in to ride out the Purge in relative safety. There is a quickly abandoned subplot with the eldest daughter and her boyfriend that is resolved and has next to no bearing on the rest of the film. The movie then devolves into a snooze-fest as the main cast attempt to find a homeless man in the dark for 20 minutes in order to escape the wrath of a group of wealthy young purgers led by Wakefield. When time runs out the film picks up some steam before it's anticlimactic denouement.

The purge is by the numbers home invasion movie that squanders it's premise...and if those numbers were being read like this 1...............2..............3........it's super dull and at times very random. The son has some wierd quirks that add nothing and have no payoff. Hawke's character is boring and out of nowhere becomes frickin Rambo for the last 10 minutes of the film.

It's not a terrible film but it isn't cerebral enough to be this slow.

Bottom line: 2 out of 5 stars.

Review of the Blue Microphones Snowball iCE Condenser Microphone

I purchased this microphone for use in my YouTube videos and I thought it's time to share my thoughts with you, my wonderful readers, so was it good? Bad? Maybe alittle of both? Let's find out as I review  the Blue Microphones Snowball iCE Condenser Microphone.

Out of the box this thing feels sturdy and well built, its a bit heavy which makes you think it's got lots of do-dads and do-hickies to do all its recordy things. 

The stand was easy enough to rig up provided you have a basic understanding of righty-tighty vs lefty-loosey. There is only one cord similar to the one connecting your printer to your computer (while we're on the subject of printers you should probably check your ink...I know you've been putting off buying a cartridge, but nobody wants a late night trip to Walmart to have to buy ink because your paper is due tomorrow and you procrastinated).

Anyway strange detours aside, The voice quality for capturing a single voice is phenomenal...when podcasting with multiple voices it leaves a little to be desired. It is a condenser mic so beware it will pick up alot of room noise. I haven't put a pop filter on mine but it would definitely help as this thing is sensitive. It doesn't have any XLR ports so this is simply a computer mic (although it does work well on my Playstation 4).

The bottom line is this is a quality little mic, and for under $100 it's money well spent.

Batman V Superman Review | Summer Movie Breakdown | Chamorro Cinema

Hafa Adai Yah'll!
Welcome to Chamorro Cinema It's me Twisted 1 so I finally got out from underneath my rock and I finally saw BvS. Yes that's right Batman vs Superman. Was it good? Was it bad? or maybe a little bit of Both? but let's find out this summer movie break down

I finally saw Batman vs Superman... I liked it, will I watch it again? Yes. Buy it maybe. But I didn't know Batman's dad was beating peoples heads in with baseball bats on the Walking Dead... John Winchester from Supernatural... The Comedian from Watchmen... and the guy from Grey's Anatomy... Man that guy gets around a lot.

I really liked it. I like you that you saw what's going lead up to future Batman and Superman and the Justice League films. I like that you saw a little quick clips of all the soon to be the Justice League except for aquaman with the intimidating camera stare, holding his breathe, looking like a puffer fish swimming off and Cyborg, like I know who Cyborg is but in the movie it's like then they shut off the camera...not enough.

All right yah'll, so tell me what you think in the comments below. Hit that like button make sure you hit that subscribe button
don't worry it ain't gonna hurt you... seriously it's not we actually got photos and paper documents that it's not
gonna hurt you all right just fore warning ya... anyway that's it.

Keep it locked here make sure you share this with all your friends so they get the nerdtastic news with an island view.