Latest news with #SamRockwell
Associated Press
4 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Associated Press
Movie Review: 'The Bad Guys 2' boldly goes bigger but loses its charm along the way
The good news for fans of 'The Bad Guys' is the new sequel is stellar. But that's because a good portion is actually set in — are you kidding us? — outer space. 'The Bad Guys 2' has clearly lost its moorings. Returning director Pierre Perifel, writers Yoni Brenner and Etan Cohen and the same voice cast have done what all sequels do these days — amp it all up like everyone is on molly, try to hit the same emotional notes and layer an insane plot with the fate of the world at stake. It's hard to watch a franchise drift so expensively and pointlessly in Earth's orbit. The gang is all back: Sam Rockwell as Mr. Wolf,Marc Maron as safe-cracker Mr. Snake, Craig Robinson as master-of disguise Mr. Shark, Anthony Ramos as Mr. Piranha and Awkwafina as hacker Ms. Tarantula. We left them in the last movie walking out of prison early after good behavior and trying to turn their back on bad-hood. It's not that easy since would-be employers these days want to know about gaps in their job experience — they were robbing banks, after all — workplace trust issues and salary expectations. No one wants to hire a bunch of ex-cons. 'Anyone who wants to change has to start somewhere,' Mr. Wolf, pushing the George Clooney-like charm offensive, begs one dubious interviewer. 'I'm just asking for a chance.' A life on the straight-and-narrow is hard for four of the former baddies, but not Maron — so perfectly cast as the grouchy, self-loathing snake. Now he spends his days doing Vinyasa yoga, listening to Sabrina Carpenter's 'Espresso,' telling people 'namaste' and sips wheatgrass kombucha with dandelion. He's even more irritating. Soon all five are caught in a series of traps and double-crosses by a new robbery crew — Danielle Brooks' lollipop-licking venomous snow leopard, Maria Bakalova's Bulgarian wild boar engineer and Natasha Lyonne's wry raven, using her same vocal tick as on 'Poker Face.' These dames have a plan to get very rich using a substance known as MacGuffinite, a clever — or lazy — joke on the object that everyone wants in a movie like this, which drives the plot. There's soon a trip to a Mexican wrestling festival and then a wedding needs crashing in order to gain control over a rocket owned by an Elon Musk-like billionaire — voice acted by Colin Jost — who runs the MoonX company. Then the rocket has to be stopped before a gadget aboard creates a '24-carat catastrophe.' The animation is amazingly kinetic and with no corners cut, from tiny bugs illuminated in a light beam at night to the bumpy way a truck moves on the highway. The franchise's love of vroooming and fishtailing Looney Tunes-like car chases stays intact, as does the wavy green air farts that emanate from Piranha. Based on Aaron Blabey's popular graphic book series, the first movie in 2022 drove hard into the nature of good and evil — like asking if DNA determines behavior — as our heroes whipsawed between heroic and villainous, to the glee of all the kiddies in the theater. 'We may be bad, but we're so good at it,' was the slogan. It was all nicely set against a zombie guinea pig uprising. This time the writers have just given up on what side of the ethical divide their anti-heroes are on. 'Are we bad again?' ask the confused piranha. Replies Mr. Wolf: 'I get it. We're all over the place.' Left unexplored is the concept of doing wrong for a greater good, and can being bad be excused if it stops a worse badness? 'What if the bad life was your best life?' asks one of the newcomers. (Another thing to chew on: If 'The Bad Guys 2' is a worse sequel, does that make 'The Bad Guys' good?) When we say the gang is all here, they're all here without any editing: Zazie Beetz returns as Gov. Diane Foxington, Alex Borstein comes back as the top cop and even the kitten from the first film meows in the second. So is Richard Ayoade as Professor Marmalade, the evil guinea pig who is now surprisingly swole and tatted up in prison. He threatens again to steal the show and may if there's a 'The Bad Guys 3.' (There's going to be a 'The Bad Guys 3.') The joy of 'The Bad Guys' was that it was a respectful send-up of the movies of Quentin Tarantino and caper flicks like 'Ocean's 11.' This time, the 'Fast & Furious' series gets mocked, as does 'Silence of the Lambs,' 'Men in Black' and maybe 'Moonraker,' which is now 46 years old. But the subversion is painfully flat now: The first film in the franchise would have laughed at one climactic line in the second: 'We've got one shot to save the world. Let's make it count!' The three new villains may be a touch too much for younger viewers — the violence seems darker and more volcanic this time — but there's a very loud soundtrack that includes Busta Rhymes, Sofi Tukker and Rag'n'Bone Man. So what does it all mean? It means the folks behind 'The Bad Guys 2' reunited for a shot to push the franchise into exciting areas, but — c'mon, everyone — they didn't make it count. 'The Bad Guys 2,' a Universal Pictures release in theaters Friday, is rated PG for 'action/mild violence, rude humor, and language.' Running time: 104 minutes. One and a half stars out of four.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Sam Rockwell tried to induce 'nervous breakdown' for scenes in 'Galaxy Quest': 'People were like, what are you doing?'
The actor referenced Gene Wilder's performance in "The Producers" as a "perfect example" of what he was trying to do. When Sam Rockwell gets a role, he's all in, dancing or whatever needs to be done. But when asked about the "most ridiculous role" he's ever committed to, there's a clear winner: Guy Fleegman, whom he played in Galaxy Quest, the 1999 movie about the cast of a former sci-fi TV series having to assume their roles in real life in order to save the universe. "Well, I think Galaxy Quest comes to mind, as far as taking it very seriously," Rockwell said of the sci-fi parody on Thursday's episode of Hot Ones. "I was walking around, [having] a lot of coffee, getting really hyped up and trying to have a nervous breakdown on camera, so that people would laugh at it, which is totally ridiculous. People were like, 'What are you doing, man? It's a comedy.' But, you know, you have to really break down or it's not funny." He pointed to Gene Wilder's performance as Leo Bloom in Mel Brooks' iconic 1967 movie The Producers as proof. Wilder, who died in 2016, is "a perfect example of that," Rockwell said. "He has a real anxiety attack, and it's hilarious." Wilder was nominated for an Oscar in the category of Best Supporting Actor for his work in the iconic film, although it's unclear how much of it was acting and how much was at least inspired by real life. The veteran of movies such as Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory and Young Frankenstein told Time in 1970 that he'd always had "a reservoir of hysteria," although he'd grown out of it. As for Rockwell, he's previously described his transformation for the spoof that he costarred in with Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver, and the late Alan Rickman in a similar way. "You have to play that for real!" he told HuffPost in July 2013. "I'm really crying in the spaceship when I'm freaking out."He also said then that he'd done "full emotional preparation." "I had had four cups of coffee, and I was doing it as if it was a drama for me," Rockwell explained. "Knowing that the outcome is going to be a funny outcome, that people will be laughing at my tragedy. I was pacing, and I think Bill Paxton did the same thing in Aliens — knowing he's the funny guy, but he's got to be freaked out. He has to be legitimately scared — and that's what makes it funny. That's what great farce is: raising the stakes." Watch Rockwell's full Hot Ones conversation above. Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly
Irish Times
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
The Bad Guys 2 review: Tolerable sequel is dragged down by an overcomplicated plot
The Bad Guys 2 Director : Pierre Perifel Cert : G Starring : Sam Rockwell, Marc Maron, Craig Robinson, Anthony Ramos, Awkwafina, Danielle Brooks, Natasha Lyonne Running Time : 1 hr 44 mins There should be a word in German for that thing where a movie makes a joke ridiculing some offence the film itself is currently committing. 'We know! So don't nag us. Okay?' There has rarely been a more egregious example than that found at the centre of this tolerable sequel to a modestly successful 2022 animation . The titular troupe of anthropomorphic grifters realise that a set of recent robberies hinge on desire for a magical substance called McGuffinite. If you didn't get that, the material is named for the device in a Hitchcock film that serves merely as an accelerant for the plot. The mysterious wine bottle in Notorious. That sort of thing. The Bad Guys 2, though big on zany visuals of the Hanna Barbera school, is dragged down by an overcomplicated plot about which it becomes increasingly hard to give a hoot. Mr Wolf, Mr Snake, Mr Shark and the rest, after saving the world in the first film, have now settled down to the boring straight existence. The former crooks are, to paraphrase the last lines of Goodfellas, learning to live the rest of their lives like a schnook. Crummy jobs. Cheap cars. No action. Life heats up when a party of female animals, led by a snow leopard named Kitty Kat, carry out a series of robberies that are blamed on our Bad Guys. Cross and double cross eventually send everyone into space for what wants to be a spectacular denouement. Who is friend? Who is foe? Who really cares? None of which is to suggest there isn't uncomplicated fun to be had here. Pierre Perifel, the French director of both films, seems to have enjoyed his Saturday-morning cartoons as a child. The clamorous, body-twisting set pieces sit somewhere between the ballet of Looney Tunes and the less sophisticated visual blare of Scooby Doo. Nothing wrong with any of that. But one remains puzzled as to what these films want to be. Not nearly enough is done with the animal natures of the heroes. Mr Wolf, voiced by Sam Rockwell, may have big teeth (Grandma), but, the odd growl aside, he does little that George Clooney didn't to in the Oceans films. In contrast, far too much is done with that increasingly unwieldy plot. If you keep yakking about the McGuffin the audience will worry if they should genuinely care about it. That isn't happening here. In cinemas from July 25th
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
What Are The Bad Guys 2's Box Office Predictions?
The animated sequel to the 2022 hit, The Bad Guys, The Bad Guys 2, is nearly here, and the early box office prediction numbers are already out. With the strong performance of the previous movie, The Bad Guys 2 will have a head start. But is that enough to ensure a successful haul? How much is The Bad Guys 2 predicted to make at the box office? Box Office Pro predicts that The Bad Guys 2 will open with a weekend haul ranging from $25 million to $35 million. Industry analysts consider this strong for an animated sequel. However, they note that the numbers might have climbed higher with a different release window. The Bad Guys had a $23.9 million domestic opening and a $97.4 million domestic total. The studio released it in April, which is typically a favorable month for animated films. Changing release schedules has not worked well for many films in the past, and this strategy could pose a risk for The Bad Guys 2. However, a summer release would have meant competing with the highly anticipated Minecraft movie. The current release window offers relatively less competition. One factor that could benefit the upcoming Universal Pictures release is its position in the release schedule. It will be the first animated film to hit theaters since Pixar's Elio. The movie is made on a budget of $80 million and will require a significant haul to be considered profitable. The Bad Guys 2 features an ensemble cast that includes Sam Rockwell, Marc Maron, Craig Robinson, Anthony Ramos, Awkwafina, Zazie Beetz, Richard Ayoade, Lilly Singh, and Alex Borstein, among others. The synopsis for the movie reads, 'The Bad Guys 2 follows the crackerjack criminal crew of animal outlaws who are struggling to find trust and acceptance in their newly minted lives as Good Guys. However, they're pulled out of retirement and forced to do 'one last job' by an all-female squad of criminals.' It will premiere on August 1, 2025. Stay tuned for more updates. Solve the daily Crossword
Times
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Times
The Bad Guys 2 review — praise be for this breezy sequel
Praise be for this breezy animated sequel, which provides a get-out-of-jail-free card for parents during the holidays and won't be a chore for them to watch with their kids. It continues the misadventures of Mr Wolf and his gang of reformed villains, who have also got out of jail and abandoned their lives of crime in favour of — well, job interviews. Mr Wolf — voiced again by Sam Rockwell, shamelessly channelling George Clooney in Ocean's Eleven — is going for a position at a bank, until his interviewer points out that he has robbed them three times. 'Some of my best memories are in banks,' Wolf says wistfully. A flashback to the naughty days accentuates the contrast in glamour as Messrs Wolf, Snake, Shark and Piranha and Ms Tarantula insouciantly pull off a heist in Cairo involving a parachute, a crane and a breakneck escape in a sports car. Back in the present day Wolf is driving a spluttering old banger … • Read more film reviews, guides about what to watch and interviews The lure of reoffending is strong, then, which is just as well because these films, like the Despicable Me franchise, hinge on the subversive thrill of rooting for the morally compromised. Adapted from the graphic novels by Aaron Blabey and directed, like the first film, by the Frenchman Pierre Perifel, this is another feast of angular animation and insouciant one-liners with a ghetto-fabulous score from Daniel Pemberton. The twist-filled story somehow finds room for Mexican wrestlers, a metal called McGuffinite (tee-hee) and a sequence in which our antiheroes board a moon rocket that makes Tom Cruise in Mission: Impossible look like Compo in Last of the Summer Wine trundling down a hill in a bath. If that sounds a bit busy, it's all done with a light and knowing touch. A third film is planned and that doesn't feel like overkill.★★★★☆ PG, 104min In cinemas Times+ members can enjoy two-for-one cinema tickets at Everyman each Wednesday. Visit to find out more. Which films have you enjoyed at the cinema recently? Let us know in the comments and follow @timesculture to read the latest reviews
