CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS 2 Review

Never have I been so hungry after seeing a comedy film. Thanks a lot for doing so CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS 2. 

Flint Lockwood is at it again, this time he needs to go back to his Swallow Falls to find his invention, the FLDSMDFR, which has survived the first encounter. Now Flint re-assembles his friends and ventures back to the Swallow Falls to turn his invention off once and for all.

There's a ton of things to love about 'Cloudy'.

The characterization for all the characters was great particularly for Sam Sparks who does not settle for being the typical 'damsel in distress' chick in animated movies. She's smart and sassy(pants) and is the voice of reason for the group. Flint Lockwood however takes the cake here as he's experiencing new stuff when he gets hired to work in LiveCorp, the company built by his idol, Chester V (played by SNL Alumnus Will Forte).



The film for all it's entirety is colorful, bright and wonderful. Kinda makes you think of happy thoughts for the entire 2 hours that the film is running. And it's not limited to the former Swallow Falls as even the animators made it possible to make a dull and boring looking San Franjose, California a spectacle.

The cuteness factor also gets jacked up in this movie to the next level. Felt like the minions from Despicable Me 2 was cute, wait till you get a load of the animals here in the film such as Barry the Berry.



Another great thing about 'Cloudy' is that it rarely relied on slapstick humor to get people laughing. Oh and let's not even dabble too much on the puns, this movie's just full of it.



This moment alone passes for gold as Flint's dad, the technophobic Tim Lockwood tells Flint that he's got the situation and that said situation is a piece of cake with which the camera pans right to reveal a cake who just shrugs at the mention and attention. I guess that comes off from the comedic caliber of the cast which includes SNL guys like Bill Hader, Will Forte and Andy Samberg, Anna Farris and Barney Stinson himself, Neil Patrick Harris.

Like a double edged sword, this factor could be a bad thing as the Pinoy audience grew up and prefer slapstick humor in their animated features. I mean, seriously, the screening I attended last night had kids who were either perplexed by the puns or just missed the whole punchline. But the adults sure loved it.



Then there was Terry Crew's character (and my namesake) Earl Deveaux. Originally voiced in the first movie by Mr. T, Crews takes over and brings some manliness to the film and at the same time carries over some OLD SPICE humor into the scene. Seriously pay attention to whenever the focus goes to Earl and you'll know what I mean. 

"Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2" might just be the freshest and most-natural animated feature film I've seen this year. It's clever and new and breaks the mold of family-oriented movies.

CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS 2 is now showing and is distributed locally by COLUMBIA PICTURES PHILIPPINES.

Terry Crews' Character Channels Old Spice Powers for CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS 2

I'm willing to bet that the guys behind CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS 2 are big fans of Terry Crews' OLD SPICE commercials as evidenced in this new clip. 

Here's the clip I was talking about...

Of course we'll all miss Mr. T who originally played Earl Deveaux in the first movie.

"Cloudy" also features the voice of Bill Hader, Anna Farris and Neil Patrick Harris. 

THE EXPENDABLES 3 Good to Go with Mel Gibson and MMA Youngbloods

Sylvester Stallone's action flick goes for a third offering with the release of the official synopsis for THE EXPENDABLES 3 featuring Mel Gibson as the new baddie.

Official Synopsis: 

"In THE EXPENDABLES 3, Barney (Stallone), Christmas (Statham) and the rest of the team comes face-to-face with Conrad Stonebanks (Gibson), who years ago co-founded The Expendables with Barney. Stonebanks subsequently became a ruthless arms trader and someone who Barney was forced to kill or so he thought. Stonebanks, who eluded death once before, now is making it his mission to end The Expendables -- but Barney has other plans. Barney decides that he has to fight old blood with new blood, and brings in a new era of Expendables team members, recruiting individuals who are younger, faster and more tech-savvy. The latest mission becomes a clash of classic old-school style versus high-tech expertise in the Expendables most personal battle yet."

Terry Crews also shared a new photo with some of the cast on the set of THE EXPENDABLES 3...

Oh and Bruce Willis is out and is replaced by Harrison Ford, which I think should make for some interesting scenes. What I'm saddened though is the non-inclusion of Chuck Norris for the third film. That guy was one of the highest points from THE EXPENDABLES 2... Yeah, him and his own, insane Chuck Norris jokes about getting bitten by a cobra and the cobra dying. 

Oh and I really hope that Jet Li stays in the film for more than 15 minutes in this movie. He was also one of the highlights from the first THE EXPENDABLES movie and his presence was sorely missed for the second. 

Finally, i neglected to mention the new recruits for the film. Most are heavy action stars back in their heyday and some are youngbloods in action movies but made a name for themselves in the world of MMA. Here are some of the new additions:

• Antonio Banderas
• Wesley Snipes
• "Vicious" Victor Ortiz
• Ronda Rousey

• Glen Powell
• Kellan Lutz

Stallone and Company Gear Up for War in New Photos for The Expendables 2

New images for The Expendables 2 features a lot of great things for the movie starring Sylvester Stallone and the rest of his crew. This set also gives us another look at Jean Claude Van Damme from the movie.

DST To Release 7 Inch The Expendables 2 Action Figures

DST and Art Asylum has revealed that they will be coming out with new 7-inch figures for the characters from the movie "The Expendables".

The new figures will feature two versions of Stallone's Barney Ross; one wearing his classic beret and the other without the beret. 

Also coming on November 2012 are figures featuring Gunner Jensen (Dolph Lundgren) and Hale Caesar (Terry Crews)

New The Expendables 2 Poster Features Fire and Badassery

The gang is back with some new addition. Cannot wait for this to be released!

Here's the Official SYNOPSIS

Stallone, Statham, Rourke, Lundgren, Couture and Crews return as hard-edged but noble mercenaries in the second installment of Sylvester Stallone's old-school action thriller, The Expendables.

As payback for taking out the corrupt CIA agent Monroe (Eric Roberts) in the first Expendables, cagey Agent Church (Bruce Willis) forces the Expendables to do an "easy mission": retrieve a missing CIA package from Gazak, a civil war torn country in Easter Europe.

New Expendables 2 Photo - Is that a tank behind you?

A new photo was released from The Expendables 2 facebook page featuring some of the Sylvester Stallone's elite team of killers.

I totally loved the bad-ass vibe be-- wait is that a tank behind these guys? What is Barney Ross thinking bringing a tank with him to a gun fight? Waitaminute they don't plan on conquering an entire city would they?

Also visible absent in this photo is Jason Statham's Lee Christmas. And yes Dolph Lundgren definitely looks meaner and badder than what he was in the first movie.

The bad news about this is that I won't have advance screening passes to this. :( Looks like I'll have to shell out some dough to watch this. PLEASE VIVA LET ME WATCH THIS IN ADVANCE! I'll be your slave.

The Expendables Get Minimates Treatment

Art Asylum is now officially selling minimates figures based on the characters from the film "The Expendables".

Wave 1 of this unique looking 4-pack will include characters such as Mr. Church (Bruce Willis), Lee Christmas (Jason Statham), Tool (Mickey Rourke) and Hale Caesar (Terry Crews).

If this is any indication, then we are now officially playing the waiting game for the release of The Expendables 2 minimates which would most likely include Chuck Norris.

The figures are now up for Pre-order and will be hitting specialty stores on August 2012.