artwork by Saint Reggie
Suicide Squad is Worth Seeing (3.5 of 5 stars)
One of the few pleasant surprises of the summer is “Suicide Squad,” which has enough style, energy, and decent acting to overcome a not-so-great script. Being a film about C-list superheroes allows the film to have a light tone that has been sorely lacking in the recent Batman efforts, although an overweight Ben Affleck is around to around to remind us of “Batman v. Superman.” Will Smith gives a sympathetic performance as Deadshot, who never misses, but it is the women, Margot Robbie and Viola Davis, who walk off with the film. Robbie is every adolescent’s wet dream as Harley Quinn, a lethal sex kitten, while Davis oozes strength and menace as a C.I,A. agent. Jared Leto is fine but under-used as the Joker, and the script doesn’t add to that much, but I still think “Suicide Squad” is a winner. There’s plenty of action to spare. – CoolAC
Sausage Party is Surprisingly Good (4 of 5 stars)
“Sausage Party” is the year’s most offensive film, and also one of the year’s best. Why does it work so well? Perhaps because it has not been test-screened to death; it left me with the feeling that I’d really seen something. At first it seems like a dumb stoner comedy about talking food, and that’s what I expected going in. But as it went on, I could see that it was making real satiric points about race, gender, religion, and sexuality. I was actually thinking as I laughed, and engrossed in it in a way I would not have thought possible. To top it off, the animation is superb. Seth Rogen plans to make a sequel and more R-rated cartoons. I think that sounds like a good idea. See “Sausage Party”; it’ll make you think twice about eating. -CoolAC