HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 2 Review

"How to Train Your Dragon 2" is the best thing DreamWorks Animation has done since the first "How to Train Your Dragon" four years ago. The sequel carries all the same qualities of its magnificent predecessor with astounding and gorgeous visuals (arguably one of the most beautifully animated films ever released), soaring cinematography following these dragons soar through the skies, a glorious score from John Powell that brings back familiar themes and, finally, a hefty amount of emotional depth.

All the characters and original voice acting have returned, starting with Hiccup (Jay Baruchel), now looking older and more seasoned, his girlfriend Astrid (America Ferrera) and their goofball cohorts voiced by comedic talent Kristen Wiig, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Jonah Hill and "Silicon Valley"'s T.J. Miller. The village of Berk has been transformed into a land of dragon trainers thanks to Hiccup's bravery in taming his very own Night Fury. In one of the film's first moments, Hiccup soars with Toothless in a breathtaking flight sequence, which for once puts 3-D technology to good use and is probably the only film franchise using it properly these days. The dragon interactions are adorable and endearing, whether it's among humans and their beasts or dragon to dragon (just wait until an entire flock of colorful dragons gets introduced); the filmmakers here are animal lovers, and it shows.

The story takes a moment to get focused and doesn't benefit from the streamlined simplicity of the first outing's narrative. Even so, it's admirable to see how writer and director Dean DeBlois has decidedly expanded his universe and relishes in spending time there. In between the high-flying and fire-breathing, the film is at its most interesting when it dares to be quieter in intimate moments. The storyline grows into something quite adult with a hint of darkness. It's certainly a better "Brave" and is exactly whatever that film wished to be, with themes of family honor, loyalty, forgiveness and carving your own path. And if anyone is worried about the state of female heroism in film, just look to Cate Blanchett's fearless Valka.

This is smart and thrilling filmmaking from an animated studio, what Pixar used to do so well. "How to Train Your Dragon" is the crown jewel franchise in DreamWorks' canon, and if they keep going with it in this same sophisticated fashion, building out a world and advancing character development, finding nuance for both heartbreak and charm in a single swoop, then I'll be on board to see what comes next.

My review of "How to Train Your Dragon"

BACHELORETTE Review

Most of the criticism I've read of "Bachelorette" is that none of the characters are likable. What people need to get over is the preconception that unlikable characters don't have anything to offer. Consider Lena Dunham's "Girls," the HBO series portraying a group of young women who aren't always making the best life decisions. Even "Bridesmaids," last year's female comedy sensation which launched Kristen Wiig to A-list status and reopened the conversation on women in comedy, has characters who aren't always likable. And yes, drawing parallels between this new female-centric comedy out of Sundance and "Bridesmaids" is unavoidable, much in the way the Judd Apatow-inspired male perspective comedies dominated the multiplex in the early to mid-2000s. This is simply the new wave of that, this time subverting our expectations on female behavior and relationships. "Bachelorette" is not so much "Bridesmaids 2" as it is the meaner, darker and more twisted stepsister of "Bridesmaids," very much its own independent and devilishly delicious creation from first-time writer/director Leslye Headland.

Coming off the coattails of her self-destructive dramatic performance in Lars von Trier's "Melancholia," Kirsten Dunst goes for a much different -- yet still self-destructive -- approach here playing Regan, the blonde ice queen in charge of her best friend's wedding. Regan is also the lead in her high school group of girlfriends, the Californian free spirit Gena (Lizzy Caplan) and the loose cannon retail girl, Katie (Isla Fisher), who serve as bridesmaids in the wedding. The friend getting married is Becky (Rebel Wilson), the fourth member of their high school group who was probably only unintentionally included as someone to mock. She's the fat girl among skinny, catty bitches who still bring up her high school nickname, Pigface. There are rampant 90s pop culture references perhaps to remind us what age these ladies are having graduated in '99 but still act like children.

Gena and Katie's plans to party like animals come to a screeching halt when Becky tells them they'll just be enjoying champagne and ice cream in the hotel room. That doesn't stop them from talking Regan into some partying of their own full of booze-drinking and cocaine-snorting. A surprising amount of cocaine-snorting. They bust out Becky's wedding dress only so Regan and Katie can shove themselves in it and tag Becky in a Facebook photo. The dress rips sending the completely trashed trio on a wild goose chase through middle-of-the-night Manhattan to try to fix their self-satisfying, bad karma-induced screw-up. By the end of the movie, the wedding dress receives more damage than any one should in a single lifetime.

This creative vehicle of needing to find an emergency dress replacement or repair allows freedom for Headland to create scenes of well-orchestrated that are chainsaw-sharp with acidic writing and humor. The girls get easily sidetracked and end up going to the groomsmen's bachelor party to a strip club, which results in possibly the most unflattering and unsexy strip club scene in recent memory. Among the men are Trevor (James Marsden) looking to tame Regan's ferocious energy; Clyde (Adam Scott), Gena's ex-boyfriend from high school who she has effectively avoided like the plague until now; and Joe (Kyle Bornheimer) who's the only one not OK with referring to Katie simply as getting with "that." With these men do come romantic possibilities, but it's the women who are crashing their party.

Isla Fisher is worth noticing as the perpetually wasted Katie who's a walking wreck in tight skirt and heels, a woman unrelenting in playing up her bimbo slut persona. Lizzy Caplan's Gena is introduced to us in a monologue on a plane about how she uses her oral sex skills to manipulate men. It's a scorcher, and Caplan owns the role giving us someone who hides her insecurities behind a veneer of hardened anger. And then there's Dunst who's portrayal of Regan is raw, real and nothing short of nightmarish. Her arrogance hits a high note when she utters this vapid complaint about her overpriviliged life: "I did everything right. I went to college. I exercise. I eat like a normal person. I've got a boyfriend in med school, and nothing is happening to me."

These girls are never likable, but their personalities soften and are given a humanity, and they're certainly not monsters. They do want to fix their friend's wedding dress. They're even, dare I say it, relatable, forcing us to hold a mirror up to our own imperfections. This is especially true in the film's closing motto from Regan, as she pronounces "fuck everyone" to muster up Becky's courage in forgetting what people think and to just walk down the aisle. Who hasn't felt that before?

FRIENDS WITH KIDS Review

"Friends With Kids" marks the first movie sense "Bridesmaids" to continue that same brand of humor -- a female-driven comedy with just the right levels of raunch, wit and heart. It's the proof that Academy Award-nominated Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo truly started something. And so it's even more fitting that "Friends With Kids" also serves as an unofficial reunion of the "Bridesmaids" cast.

Jessica Westfeldt -- who co-wrote and starred in 2001's "Kissing Jessica Stein" -- goes solo this time writing, directing and starring in this candid look at adult relationships; ones affected by that tricky life obstacle we call having kids. The movie looks like any other rom-com you've seen set in bustling New York with sleek nightlife and nifty apartments. Setting it apart, though, is Westfeldt's screenplay full of sharp dialogue which brings up smart observations giving her characters more to chew on. Westfeldt, 42, clearly knows raising children is no easy feat, and her intensity on the topic shows. The movie's cynicism and harsh, biting humor is off-putting at first, but it eventually eases into a bittersweet balance.

Longtime friends Julie (Jessica Westfeldt) and Jason (Adam Scott) watch as their coupled friends have kids and, consequently, start losing sight of their formerly fun selves. Maya Rudolph paired with Chris O'Dowd and Kristen Wiig with Jon Hamm (all of "Bridesmaids") play the married duos, and they're consistently great. While Julie and Jason revel in their carefree and sexy lives going on dates and being unattached, they still want to have a baby -- just without the baggage of a relationship. So, on a whim they decide to have a baby together while sharing custody but remaining in their separate apartments with their separate lives.

After their baby Joe is born, Jason goes out and meets a dancer named Maryjane (an interesting choice of Megan Fox who is perhaps purposely kept quiet) while Julie finds love with a suave divorcee, Kurt (Edward Burns). Meanwhile baby Joe bounces back and forth between their two lives, like a shared custody post-divorce without the messiness of a divorced marriage. Their friends, having had kids in wedlock, aren't sure how to take Julie and Jason's unique situation. It's used as a clever platform to launch the movie into a lot of talk with the kind of frank, graphic conversations contemporary R-rated comedies are having now -- for adults -- about relationships, marriage and sex. And it's all good talk.

The question: do they remain friends? Well, "Friends With Kids" is at its very core a standard rom-com, so answer that one for yourself. But through it are plenty of moments worth remembering. Adam Scott, of "Parks and Recreation," is a scene-stealer as the snippy, smart-mouthed Jason who has a revelationary monologue during a snowy cottage getaway with the six friends. And Westfeldt proves a fine leading lady who also shows in a worthy directorial debut that she knows how to get the most out of a fantastic ensemble cast.

BRIDESMAIDS Review

"Bridesmaids" (2011)

With "Bridesmaids," we're introduced to Kristen Wiig beyond her capabilities as just a comedian. We know her well from the characters she plays in "Saturday Night Live" sketches, and her mannerisms from those are all present--from her passive-aggressive casually tossed-out insults to her wild eyes and trying-to-please-everyone smile. This marks the first time she puts these mannerisms into something greater: a leading role for the big screen. Why has it taken this long?

She plays Annie, the distraught maid of honor who's attractive and well-meaning but whose life is a mess. She has flair and inner strength but in her current state, her best traits are covered with insecurity and self-loathing. She's someone we can relate to and believe in. By creating such an endearing three-dimensional character, we're introduced to Kristen Wiig, the full-fledged actress. The hilarious and bold new comedy directed by Paul Feig in which she stars also introduces us to Kristen Wiig the writer as she co-wrote the film with Annie Mumolo giving audiences an astonishing turning point in comedy.

This is not--as people have been suggesting--the female version of "The Hangover." It's something more profound than that. More in the vein of a Judd Apatow film, it makes sense he helped produce it. It's another revelation much like "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" or "Knocked Up" but with the hybrid of raunchy R-rated comedy and chick flick evolved even further. "Bridesmaids" is not a comedy aimed at women. Instead, it is a comedy about women with gender-neutralizing and universal humor. In a movie that shows us women can be drunk, insecure, vulgar and pathetic not like men but like real women, it's a triumph in equality and something both sexes can embrace.

When Annie's lifelong best friend Lillian (Maya Rudolph of "SNL") announces that she's engaged and signs Annie up to be her maid of honor, Annie starts believing her life is really that far behind. Her passion for baking landed her in the hole when she opened a cake shop that inevitably had to close because it was during the economic recession. Now she lives with two dumpy-looking oddball sibling British roommates (Rebel Wilson and Matt Lucas), can barely come up with her rent for her small apartment, drives around a clunker of a car and works behind a jewelry counter scowling at happily married couples. Her only source of romance comes from a rich tool who she occasionally jumps into bed with only to consequently deplete her self-worth. He gets weirded out when she spends the night after having vigorous sex only he could've enjoyed.

It isn't until the upscale and fancy engagement party where Annie meets Lillian's new friend Helen (Rose Byrne who holds her own beside great female comedians) that she starts to lose it. Helen is an upper-class snobbish bitch whose only tone of voice is that of uppity condescension. Annie can't understand what her best friend sees in this artificial shell of a woman, and so begins the jealousy. A moment where Annie and Helen attempt to out-toast each other is one of hilarity but also humanity as Wiig never lets us forget the torment inside Annie, which gives scenes such as this a tinge of pain.

Beginning here, the movie delves into smart observations on the sometimes strenuous bonds in female relationships and tensions in class consciousness. In a trip to Vegas for a bachelorette party, the ladies don't even make it past the plane ride out there because--in a hysterical and spot-on sequence--Annie, in a drunken and drugged-up fit, lets free all the bottled up feelings of absurd isolation and masochism she'd been feeling.

And what about that gross-out gag of women puking and defecating? It's uproarious, disgusting and perfect. Annie takes the bride and her fellow bridesmaids to a Brazilian restaurant before the group heads to a chic bridal shop to try on dresses. Little did they know food poisoning was to follow. Whoops. Sweat begins to drip, rumbles are heard, a few burp-ups pop out and suddenly the women are scrambling for their lives wearing extravagantly expensive dresses. The image of Maya Rudolph in a luscious white wedding gown slumping down onto the street to relieve herself is one you won't soon forget.

All the supporting actresses are great including the sweet-natured newlywed Becca (Ellie Kemper of "The Office"); Dana (Wendi McLendon-Covey of "Reno 911!") who begrudges about being a stay-at-home mom and about her two adolescent sons who leave semen all over everything in her house; and, the stand-out, Meghan (Melissa McCarthy of "Mike & Molly") who talks tough and is built like a linebacker.

While the sentimentality doesn't go anywhere near "Sex and the City" territory, the movie is technically a romantic comedy. Annie does meet a cute and friendly Irish cop named Rhodes (Chris O'Dowd) who she likes and must learn to be comfortable around. There's more empathy than sympathy here, though, and the finesse comes from--like most comedies today--getting pleasure out of characters' awkward behavior. This comes to a head during Annie's awful and embarrassing outburst during Lillian's bridal shower, the movie's very best scene.

This scene encapsulates what "Bridesmaids" is all about--and what makes it so funny--as Annie reaches complete reckless abandon exploding with unnecessary but understandable jealousy and fury. As with the rest of the moments in this comedy, they are honest and real as we laugh at and with Annie. She says what everyone's thinking, and even while she's creating her own path of destruction she's finding her own destiny with antic energy.