Sing

Review by Bob Ignizio

Even animals love a singing competition in SING, which must be, what, the 200th animated kid flick this year? Fortunately, although it's not a top tier effort, SING is at least entertaining. Probably moreso if you're in the under 12 year old target market than an old geezer like me and/or the modern pop hits being covered by the cast don't make you cringe (also me).

Anyway, the plot is pretty simple. Koala Buster Moon (Matthew McConaughey) owns a theater, something that was his childhood dream. Unfortunately, all his productions bomb, and the bank is about to foreclose. In a last ditch effort to save his beloved venue, Buster decides to put on a singing competition ala 'American Idol' or 'The Voice', in which everyday animals get a chance to show their talents to the world. The prize is supposed to be $1000, but Buster's elderly lizard secretary accidentally prints up fliers offering 100 times that much.

A Million Ways to Die in the West

Review by Grace Snyder

Directed, written and starring Seth McFarlane, A MILLION WAYS TO DIE IN THE WEST fires audiences round after round of insanely crude hilarity. McFarlane plays Albert, an unfulfilled sheep farmer living in the wild, wild west. After bowing out of a gun-fight (where audiences get their first taste of McFarlane’s comedic intentions), Albert’s schoolmarm girlfriend, Louise (Amanda Seyfried), decides it is time to end their relationship. Louise cites Albert’s lack of motivation as reason for breaking off the affair and says that she needs to “work on herself.”


This proves to be a lie as Albert quickly finds Louise with the town’s local moustache-man, Foy (Neil Patrick Harris). Foy is extravagant and far more impressive than the sheepish Albert and he wastes no time pointing this out. Albert is beside himself in anguish, wishing only to win his Louise back.

Ted

Review by Matt Finley

TED was Seth MacFarlane’s last chance to win me over. I won’t say I don’t respect the man – he’s a hard worker who has managed to build himself a cozy primetime empire out of nothing but some college animations and a handful of low-hanging pop culture references – but I’ve never been partial to his work. Still, whether or not I enjoy Family Guy or its even less palatable sister programs, I was hoping MacFarlane  would avail himself of the silver screen’s expansive diameter and muster something of broader topical scope – perhaps even richer artistic depth – than the Griffins’ interminable, chaotic  rabble of celebrity pot shots, insipid film homages and quotidian obscenities.

It was his last chance, and he failed. With soaring, stratosphere-breaching colors.

The trailer pretty much says it all: John Bennett, an awkward 8-year-old loner magically wishes his plush bear, Teddy, to life. 25 years later, the two inseparable friends remain locked in a state of adolescent immaturity, spending their days drinking, smoking weed and watching the films of their shared childhood, as John’s (Mark Wahlberg) increasingly impatient girlfriend Lori (Mila Kunis) begs him to ditch Ted (voiced by Macfarlane) and move on with his life.