Christopher Mintz-plasse

Almost pathologically buoyant, this brightly colourful animated comedy is so cheeky that it's impossible to dislike. The plot may be thin, and the wackiness a bit too full-on, but every moment is packed with smart verbal and visual jokes. This rapid-fire energy keeps us laughing all the way through, while the lively song score has us humming along and wishing we could get up there and dance.

It's set in a garish fantasy world in which sweetly happy trolls are locked in a mortal battle with gloomy bergen who think the only way they can achieve happiness is to eat a troll. It's been 20 years since the trolls escaped to form a secret forest community, so they throw a party to celebrate. Led by Princess Poppy (Anna Kendrick), the festivities feature so much music, glitter and hugging that the bergen's Chef (Christine Baranski) spots their location. The paranoid troll Branch (Justin Timberlake) had warned that this might happen, and sure enough Chef sweeps in and grabs a handful of trolls to take back to bergen King Gristle (Christopher Mintz-Plasse). Feeling responsible, Poppy sets out on a quest to rescue them, and Branch grudgingly accompanies her. They also get help from the lovelorn bergen scullery maid Bridget (Zooey Deschanel).

There isn't a moment in this story that carries even a hint of actual suspense, but the action scenes are still exhilaratingly madcap, and the darker moments along the way generate proper emotion. Thankfully, the lesson is so painfully obvious (you don't need to eat a troll to be happy!) that the filmmakers don't bother hammering it in. Instead, they fill every scene with deranged wit, ridiculous gags and lively character detail.

Continue reading: Trolls Review

Bigger and even richer than the terrific 2010 hit animation, this sequel is also quite possibly the best action-adventure movie of the year. Not only are its big set-pieces thrillingly rendered with first-rate special effects, but the characters are complex and involving. And the script effortlessly combines jagged wit, youthful exuberance, heart-stopping romance and even some rather bleak emotions.

Five years have passed since Hiccup (voiced by Jay Baruchel) discovered his ability to interact with dragons, specifically his inseparable pal Toothless, bringing a new era of dragon-related fun to the small Viking island of Berk. But now his father Stoick (Gerard Butler) is talking about passing on the mantel of chief to Hiccup, and he's not sure he's ready for that. He'd much rather be out zooming over the ocean exploring uncharted lands. Then on one of his trips he encounters a group of dragon hunters led by Eret (Kit Harington), who is helping the notorious villain Drago (Djimon Hounsou) build an army. But this leads Hiccup to an even more startling discovery: his mother Valka (Cate Blanchett) turns out to be alive and running a secret sanctuary for dragons. Can they team up to stop Drago?

It's a rare film that manages to work equally well in the quiet moments as in the massive spectacle, but writer-director Dean DeBlois never wobbles at all. Without ever manipulating the audience, he seamlessly shifts from tear-inducing happiness to soaringly thrilling battle action to agonising emotional pain. The coming-of-age plot may feel familiar, but it's packed with fresh touches, hilarious observations and some surprising twists and turns along the way.

Continue reading: How To Train Your Dragon 2 Review

There's a blast of raucous energy to this lively comedy that sets it apart from the pack; aside from a willingness to get deeply rude and incorrect, the movie is actually very funny. It helps that it's packed with snappy characters and witty dialogue, and that the cast makes the gratuitously vulgar humour come to life in surprising ways.

It opens with happy couple Mac and Kelly (Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne), whose idyllic life with their ridiculously cute baby is interrupted when a frat house moves in next door. They want to be cool about it, so introduce themselves and nicely ask the fraternity leaders Teddy and Pete (Zac Efron and Dave Franco) to keep it down. They even indulge in a bit of partying themselves. But the noise only gets louder, and when Mac and Kelly call the cops in a moment of desperation, they spark a war that escalates into a series of crazy practical jokes. This also gets the fraternity in trouble with their university administrator (Lisa Kudrow), which only fuels the battle.

Director Nicholas Stoller (The Five-Year Engagement) keeps things moving briskly, packing every scene with shamelessly coarse humour. For every joke that falls flat (like a breast-feeding set-piece), there are five more gags immediately following that generate gut-busting laughter. While the plot is little more than a series of elaborate pranks, there's an unstoppable momentum that builds to a riotous party climax. Even more important is the way the actors are allowed to twist their stereotypical characters to add some meaningful subtext.

Continue reading: Neighbors [Bad Neighbours] Review

Even as this comedy strains to be goofy and transgressive, it catches us by surprise simply because it dares to explore first-time sexual experiences through female eyes. And Aubrey Plaza (Safety Not Guaranteed) brings her usual sardonic wit to the lead role, merrily offending the more timid moviegoers while making more adventurous fans wish the film went even further.

Plaza plays Brandy, who graduated at the top of her Boise high school class. But with that goal achieved, she wonders if she neglected to prepare properly for university social life, so she makes a summer to-do list of sex-related tasks leading, hopefully, to losing her virginity to the hunky guitar-strumming lifeguard Rusty (Porter). She works with him at the local swimming pool along with her nice-guy best pal Cameron (Simmons), who's of course secretly in love with her. But as Brandy works through the list with the help of her friends (Shawkat and Steele) and her experienced big sister (Bilson), she starts to worry that her emotions are getting in the way.

Thankfully, writer-director Carey refuses to let this turn into a romantic slush-fest, keeping the encounters jagged and often very funny. The script is packed with hilariously squirm-inducing conversations about sex, many involving Brandy's far too helpful mother (Britton). Although her dad (Gregg) and her loser boss (Hader) understandably don't want to know. Meanwhile, when the local guys (Glover and Mintz-Plasse) find out about Brandy's list, they are sure to tick off a few items themselves, as does a visiting rock star (Samberg).

Continue reading: The To Do List Review

New writer-director Wadlow (Never Back Down) makes one severe misstep with this sequel to Matthew Vaughn's snappy 2010 Kick-Ass: he loses the irony. Now everything is played for goofy laughs and indulgent grisliness. There's no longer any subtext, nothing original in the structure or premise and a clear fear of being politically incorrect. Even so, it's an entertaining romp with a steady stream of funny gags.

After the craziness of the first film, Dave (Taylor-Johnson) has hung up his Kick-Ass costume and is trying to be a regular teen at school, but he's jealous of Mindy (Moretz) secretly carrying on her training as Hit Girl. So he asks her to team up and teach him some new tricks. But when her guardian (Chestnut) finds out, she promises to give up the violence and go back to school. Now Dave has to find a new partner, so he joins a lively team of underground heroes led by the gung-ho Captain Stars and Stripes (Carrey). But Dave's old nemesis Chris (Mintz-Plasse) still wants to avenge his father's death, so he abandons his dodgy heroic alter-ego Red Mist and instead becomes a supervillain called The Mother F**ker, with his own butler-assistant (Leguizamo) and a crew of minions.

Wadlow briskly leaps from one action set-piece to the next, and each scene has a witty sense of humour about it, even if the extreme violence is played for rather glamorised fun rather than the shock-value of the first film. Through everything, the dialog is packed with amusing lines that keep us laughing. And Mindy's parallel plot has its moments as well, throwing her in with the school's mean girls, who clearly don't know who they're messing with. Moretz plays Mindy so well that she makes everyone else feel scruffy and simplistic by comparison. Carrey's muscled meathead is a startlingly against-type role that strangely refuses to go anywhere. But Glen is rivetingly sharp in one key scene.

Continue reading: Kick-Ass 2 Review