The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part

Though Lord Miller supplied the building blocks, in the hands of less expert craftsman, the result feels piecemeal at best. Painfully disjointed opening vignettes could’ve used a bit of cohesive glue, and a few clever self-referential gags and reversals of cinematic expectation in third act don’t compensate for schizophrenic storytelling.

Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping

Sandberg votes himself off the Island in Spinal Rap, a mock/rockumentary that’s unflinching farcical while bizarrely believable. Ridiculous rhyme schemes and clever genre subversion compete for the spotlight against impressive lineup of cameos. Clever jokes come early, while later, longer set-pieces lack life. It’s no Mona Lisa, whatever that means.

The Lego Batman Movie

Feels like an overlong South Park episode made weaker through pulled plastic punches. Amusing Romantic Knight plot provides clever genre commentary and appearance of infinite baddies from inside and outside canon proved spectacular entertainment, but ultimately the comedy doesn’t quite match the originality of predecessor. Perhaps they suffered writers blocks.

Despicable Me

Dreamworks’ answer to The Incredibles is slightly less so. Cute but overall predictable supervillain romp with amusing Bond gadgets an army of jaundiced Oompa-Loompas, and a decent dose of slapstick humor to keep things afloat. What’s truly despicable? Hiring famous actors then having them use severe accents. Great song though.

Wristcutters: A Love Story

Odd meditation on the afterlife with perfect assortment of pensive characters. Enthusiastic leap into extraordinary premise makes accepting it easy, and Whigham’s Virgil to Fugit’s Dante makes the whole thing enjoyable. Where there’s a Will (Arnett) to distract there’s a Waits to perform sublimely and restore equilibrium. A lovely story.

Brief Interviews with Hideous Men

Krasinski directs scatter-brained male perspective on female perspective on minds of men. Equal parts disorienting and unsatisfying randomness and ingeniously edited intercut conversation montages. Performances are all-around satisfactory but not impressive with exception of MacGruber’s strange serious turn and Dominic Cooper’s brilliantly dark argument. Excellent monologues galore tied together poorly.