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lukeevansgirl22 · 4 months

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The Happytime Murders is a little bit too dark!

Hey guys! I’m here to do a review for the movie “The Happytime Murders!” I started watching this movie but it was getting too dark so I turned it off. It’s not that I wasn’t getting the jokes, I just wasn’t getting comfortable watching the movie. The movie is about an LAPD detective-turned-private-eye is on the case to find out who is killing the puppet cast of a 90s children’s TV show. With…

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adamwatchesmovies · 6 years

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The Happytime Murders (2018)

The premise of The Happytime Murders didn’t excite me when I saw trailers. That doesn’t mean I went in wanting to hate. There is potential in a murder-mystery plot that features raunchy puppets but it's wasted on this film.

In a world where puppets coexist with humans, blue-skinned Phil Phillips (voiced by Bill Barretta) is a former LAPD cop, the first puppet ever admitted on a police force, who now works as a private eye. While searching for the person blackmailing a puppet nymphomaniac named Sandra (voiced by Dorien Davies), he discovers a trail of puppet murders. On the case is his former partner, Detective Connie Edwards (Melissa McCarthy).

Even if the idea of puppets cursing, smoking, drinking and having sex makes you burst out laughing, the joke gets old. There are a few chuckles here and there that make good use of the gimmick but for the most part, director Brian Henson and writer Todd Berger seem content simply with the idea that “hey, wouldn’t it be HILARIOUS if the creatures we grew up watching had dirty, R-Rated cousins on the big screen?”. Even if we hadn’t seen this sort of thing done before (from Meet the Feebles to Team America: World Police), there’s little here that’s clever. We’re told that puppets are second-class citizens. Why? Because sugar is their cocaine? It’s just an excuse to pad out the film’s running time with more shock-value gags that ultimately, add little to the picture.

Take away the gimmick and all you have is a run-of-the-mill detective film. The mystery? It’s easy to solve even when the film attempts to throw you off the trail. Once you find out who it is, some of the previous actions don’t hold up, which would be fine if the film was really funny but it isn’t. The recurring gags in this picture include puppets confusing Melissa McCarthy for a man, her character having a sugar addiction… and puppets being nasty. I know I’ve mentioned it already but that’s the joke. Every time, that’s the joke. The picture to compare Happytime Murders to is Who Framed Roger Rabbit who did, essentially, the same thing but was clever about it and kept you guessing - and laughing - until the end. Even at only 91 minutes, your engagement will be long gone before exactly what’s been going on is revealed.

While The Happytime Murders has foul language, jokes about sperm and other body fluids, violence, and murder, it’s a juvenile picture. There’s nothing particularly imaginative about its story… and worst of all isn’t particularly funny either. As a debut for Henson Alternative, a banner for the Jim Henson company that specializes in adult content, this isn’t the catastrophe that was Universal’s “Dark Universe”, but it’s about as encouraging. (Theatrical version on the big screen, August 26, 2018)

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wonderfulworldofmichaelford · 5 years

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Michael After Midnight: The Happytime Murders/Meet the Feebles

Puppets are fucking awesome. There’s really no bones about it, puppets really help make every film they’re in a little better by being the coolest practical effects out there. Labyrinth, The Dark Crystal, Little Shop of Horrors… Hell, Yoda is in the best Star Wars movie, and guess what he is? A motherfucking puppet. And don’t even get me started on the Muppets, everything they touch turns to gold. Except The Wizard of Oz. And aliens.

What I’m getting at here is it’s really hard to make a shitty movie with puppets, because there’s so much skill and detail in pulling off puppet work that it’s not something you can really half-ass, so even the dumbest movie with puppets tends to be at least moderately entertaining. Which brings us to the first of tonight’s films: The Happytime Murders. Directed by Jim Henson’s son Brian and stuck in development hell for years, this movie was set to bring the world a hard-R rated movie starring puppets, something that had been done before of course, but not by The Jim Henson Company. Unfortunately, critics and audiences were not impressed, and to really illustrate why, I think it’s time to finally discuss a movie I should have brought up long ago, the movie that can most easily be seen as the spiritual precursor to this one: Meet the Feebles.

In 1989, Peter Jackson (yes, THAT Peter Jackson) set out to make a satire of human behavior… but also parody The Muppet Show. To the world, he delivered one of the most depraved, disgusting, and incredible works of puppet-based mayhem humanity could ever hope to see. Hardly a minute goes by without something gross, excessive, or over-the-top happening, and it’s all surrounding a bunch of drugged-up, sex addicted, crazy-ass puppets. So, yeah, The Happytime Murders was about 30 years late to the party, but was it really so bad? And how does Jackson’s film show the issues with Henson’s?

So let me just state up front here: I think The Happytime Murders is a decent film. It’s not mind-blowing, but there’s a lot of great puppet work done here, it builds up a really interesting world, and Bill Baretta’s Phil Phillips and Melissa McCarthy’s character actually play off of each other fairly well. Basically, whenever the movie is treating its subject matter with some degree of seriousness, even if it dips a little into black comedy, it works. The original concept for the film would have had this movie as a serious crime drama that happened to star puppets, and I think if they went with that it would have been amazing, but after so long in development hell it was retooled into being more comedic. Which would be fine; buddy cop comedies are usually enjoyable, right?

But its comedy has a real problem, and it’s the same problem Sausage Party had: too much of the humor in the film boils down to “Haha, look at this puppet say FUCK! Look at these puppets doing DRUGS! Hahaha, this puppet is CUMMING EVERYWHERE, isn’t that ZAAAAAAAAAANY?!” The entire joke for a lot of the movie is just the mere novelty that these puppets, things not often associated with swearing, shitting, cumming, drugs, incest, and so on, are doing all of those things, much as a lot of Sausage Party’s novelty was “Wow, look at these animated characters say FUCK!” The film ends up being too crass and too lowbrow at points, and it kind of muddles things. Like it wants to be serious but it also wants to appeal to the lowest common denominator in terms of humor, and it just seems tonally inconsistent.

Compare to Meet the Feebles, which practically revels in how depraved it is from the word go. Right off the bat we have a walrus fucking a cat, and the movie refuses to pull any punches from there. We have drug addiction, death, gang wars, puppets eating other puppets, puppets eating shit, puppets having drug-induced Vietnam war flashbacks where they were forced to play Russian Roulette by cringeworthy racist caricature cats, nasty puppet pornos, and all of it culminates in a fox singing a song about sodomy on a family variety show followed by a bloody mass shootout that leaves multiple people dead. The movie does not let up on being as sick and freaky as possible, and there isn’t a single minute that goes by where you won’t be questioning your sanity and Peter Jackson’s sanity.

But that’s the beauty of it; Meet the Feebles is never trying to aspire to be anything more than what it is. It wants to be this trashy, shit-coated look at the human condition, this sort of gory grindhouse trashterpiece. It almost feels like Jackson was deliberately shooting for the cult audience this movie would eventually gain, knowing that even if only a small number of people appreciated the message he was conveying, it would be worth it. And frankly that just makes the film feel far more honest and sincere than The Happytime Murders, and frankly I do not use the phrase “honest and sincere” to describe a film where a paparazzi fly literally eats a pile of shit lightly.

Basically, what this all boils down to is an identity crisis. The Happytime Murders tries to have its cake and eat it too, to be a serious crime drama and a juvenile comedy riding off of the novelty of puppets swearing and fucking. Meet the Feebles, on the other hand, just completely blasts off with the novelty right off the bat and somehow keeps finding ways to go further and further over the top; it knows what it wants to do, and by god it’s gonna do it. Meet the Feebles is proud of itself, and frankly it should be. Not many movies can claim to be so committed and self-sure as a movie that ends with a hippo puppet gunning down her coworkers in a fit of rage.

I definitely think both movies are worth a watch, though Meet the Feebles definitely moreso, especially if you like nasty, grimy, trashy films or just want to see where Jackson got his start, as this was his second film ever and in what I like to call the “Bad Taste Trilogy,” my grouping of his otherwise unconnected first three incredibly gory cult films. The Happytime Murders is definitely worth a watch if you don’t mind more juvenile humor; the earlier comparison to Sausage Party definitely works, because I feel mostly the same about it. It’s got some good, solid moments and a fun character dynamic between the leads, so if you like that sort of thing, love puppets, and don’t mind stupid lowbrow humor now and then, you might get a kick out of it.

Frankly, I think most of the problems The Happytime Murders has could easily be rectified if it got a sequel or even a spinoff set in the same world. There’s a lot of good ideas there, it just needed a little more polish and I think it could have been the greatest R-rated puppet film ever made as opposed to third place behind Peter Jackson fucking around and the South Park guys lampooning America.

#Michael After Midnight #Review #movie review #The Happytime Murders #Meet the Feebles #Peter Jackson #Brian Henson #puppets #comedy #cult classic

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reallybradjones · 6 years

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#The Cinema Snob #The Puppet Inside Me #Movie Review #Brad Jones #Lee Roy Myers #Wood Rocket #The Happytime Murders

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constantviewings · 5 years

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Seven Days of Films: 6 - 12 April

Sorry for the late post.

The Hate U Give

To start off, I’m not really the biggest fan of teen movies so this film already had a disadvantage. That being said, I did enjoy this film and the message that it delivers but I wasn’t able to grasp/relate to it because I am almost the complete opposite of the target audience; being a non-american, white, young adult female. Would I watch it again? Maybe, if I remember that it exists in six months time.

Rating: 3

The Happytime Murders

I don’t have much to say about this movie other than I enjoyed watching it. But, almost a week after watching it, I don’t remember much about it apart from a handful of scenes.

Updated 21/04/19 - No, this movie sucks.

Rating: -1

Ocean’s 8

This film is pretty good, I liked all of the performances and, if the other Ocean’s films are like this, I’m sure I’ll like them as well.

Rating: 4

Red Sparrow

I remember being excited for this movie when I first saw the trailer and I hoped it would be something akin to Black Swan (which is one of, if not, my favourite movies). Alas, it wasn’t. I did enjoy this film for the first half, but around the 1hr 15min mark I started to lose interest and stopped paying attention, which in turn lead to the ending being confusing.

Rating: 2

#movie reviews #The Hate U Give #The Happytime Murders #Ocean's 8 #Red Sparrow

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alex-at-the-movies · 6 years

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Introduction Post

Okay first of all, welcome to my new blog where I will be posting reviews about movies (and maybe shows) that are both new and old. As an AMC A-list member I typically see about 3 movies a week as long as they interest me, gotta get my money’s worth after all lol. Anyways my reviews will be purely my own opinion and how I felt about the movie. For movies still in theaters I'll try to avoid spoilers, but I'll always tag anything that may spoil the movie. Some movies I'll even include my thoughts going into the movie as well as my thoughts after the movie. I may update my reviews after I let the movie sink in more or if I see it a second time, but that's really only if there's anything significant to add to it. As for other reviews and reviewers, there may be times where I criticize their evaluation of a movie or use their review as support for mine. All in all I hope you enjoy reading my thoughts on the movies I watch, especially the ones I really enjoy, now hopefully I'll be able to think of a rating system I can stick to by the time I make my next post just in case it's tldr and you'd rather just skip down to the rating.

As for the movies I will be reviewing starting tonight (depending on your time zone and if I actually feel like doing it) they are:

Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant (2009)

Peppermint (2018)

Searching (2018)

Kin (2018)

A.X.L (2018)

Alpha (2018)

The Happytime Murders (2018)

Mile 22 (2018)

Whiteboy Rick (2018)

And many more as I think of them, don't expect any kind of regular schedule, but I'll try to post at least once a week. Ideally I'll write many of them in advance and schedule them, but that all depends on if I can find the time and focus on writing them long enough while also working on my works of fiction and any college work I have.

#movie reviewer #movie blog #movie critic #writer #cirque du freak #peppermint #searching #kin #axl #alpha #the happytime murders #mile 22 #whiteboy rick #movies #alex at the movies #alex goes to the movies #introduction #intro post #new blog

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everymovie2020 · 5 years

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2018 Retrospective: Worst Movies of 2018

10. The Greatest Showman

9. I Feel Pretty

8. Destination Wedding

7. I Love You Daddy

6. Justice League

5. Atomic Blonde

4. Red Sparrow

3. Ready Player One

2. The Happytime Murders

1. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

Honourable Mentions: Pitch Perfect 3, A Bad Mom's Christmas, The Mountain Between Us, Rampage, Skyscraper, Dog Days, Truth or Dare, Mission Impossible: Fallout, Tag

#2018 retrospective #worst movies of 2018 #movies #movie reviews #jurassic world: fallen kingdom #red sparrow #ready player one #the happytime murders #justice league #atomic blonde #i love you daddy #destination wedding #i feel pretty #the greatest showman #go to hell louis ck

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short-spoiler-free-movie-re-blog · 6 years

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The Happytime Murders

Reasons to watch this movie:

- Touching story

- Political statement

- Symbolism

- Comedy

This movie is like a more realistic, nitty-gritty, disturbingly accurate Zootopia for adults. It shows the real effect of a system of oppression. It's not pretty, it's not shrouded in glamorous lies, it's the truth no one wants you to see. The puppets are people, but like certain groups in society today, they are oppressed for being different. Still, there are good people who fight against this injustice.

I give this meaningful, and entertaining movie five artistic hearts out of five:

💟 💗 💝 💞 💖

#the happytime murders #muppets #not for kids #melissa mccarthy #elizabeth banks #maya rudolph #joel mchale #movie review #spoiler-free

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agentnico · 6 years

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The Happytime Murders (2018) Review

I wonder what Paul Thomas Anderson thinks of his wife (Maya Rudolph) starring in all these crappy comedies? The man directs arguably some of the best features put to screen, with the likes of Magnolia, Phantom Thread and There Will Be Blood, however his wife appears in films like, well, The Happytime Murders, The Nut Job, the abysmal CHiPs and many other turd bags, and it makes you wonder what Paul Thomas Anderson thinks of this. I bet he loves it!

Plot: When the puppet cast of an '90s children's TV show begin to get murdered one by one, a disgraced LAPD detective-turned-private eye puppet takes on the case, which means teaming up with his ex-partner, with whom he did not leave on the best of terms.

So Sesame Street tried to sue this film for copying them to much, however I honestly don’t see why Sesame would want to have any kind of connection to this film, as this film’s main gag and pitch is that puppets swear, do drugs, have sex, and basically do anything that shouldn’t be seen by a child’s eye. You heard me, parents, this ain’t another Muppets movie. Don’t take your kids to see this one! But anyway, The Happytime Murders is the perfect way to end a summer filled with bad films. I’m sorry, unlike what many think, I think this summer has been rubbish. Yes, there were a few little gems here and there, like Mission: Impossible - Fallout, Deadpool 2 and BlackKklansman, and also Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again was way better than it had any right to be, however as a whole this summer was atrocious. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, The Meg, Ant-Man and the Wasp, Ocean’s 8, Mile 22, Tag, well, the list goes on, all these movies were super mediocre to terrible, and so far this year as a whole has been like that, which is why I am optimistically looking forward to awards season as our saving grace. But with The Happytime Murders, yes, it also is not a good film. It’s actually very bad, however at least it is enjoyable. And that’s more than can be said for many other dull films of this summer.

Filled with all the tired old cliches of a detective movie, many 5-10 minute periods where nothing interesting happens, a script so lazy that it only relies on using as many curse words as possible (a gag that works at first but does get tiresome by the end) and a wasted human cast with the likes of Joel McHale and Elizabeth Banks, whom I wish got more to do, though Maya Rudolph, so mis-used at the beginning of the film, gets more to do at the end with hilarious fashion, and then there is Melissa McCarthy, whom I never liked, and this film has not changed that.

Yes, this movie is bad, but not going to lie, me and my friends had a hell of a time watching it, since after a certain line is said and we all gathered what kind of film we were watching, which just allowed ourselves to be swayed into this world of foul humour, and yes, the movie is completely stupid and ridiculous, but that’s what made it enjoyable. But what else do you expect from a film that has one octopus-like puppet milking a cow muppet? So yeah, as something stupid to watch with your friends and pals, this might actually not be such a bad choice, however as a film its very badly made. Though you do have to admire the puppetry work that has gone into the film, especially when during the credits you get to see some behind the scenes work. It is impressive, no doubt, but that doesn’t make for a good film. Enjoyable nonetheless though.

Overall score: 3/10

TOP MOVIE QUOTE: “I have a severe condition of Imma.” “What’s Imma?” “Imma see it, Imma f*** it!”

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oneofusnet · 6 years

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Highly Suspect Reviews: The Happytime Murders Tweet Pin It read more on One of Us

#movie review #podcast #The Happytime Murders #film #Highly Suspect Reviews #Movie Review

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eventideent · 6 years

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THE DRIVE-IN #38 - "The Happytime Murders" Review

#2018 #aaron #comedy #drive #entertainment #eventide #film #happytime #in #lopez #movie #murders #review #the

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fatalroadie00 · 6 years

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Roadie Reviews: The Happytime Murders

#melissa mccarthy #maya rudolph #the happytime murders #movie review #roadie reviews #reaction video

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andrewsmoviereviews · 6 years

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The Happytime Murders (2018)

Plot: When someone begins to kill off the cast of an old TV show, disgraced puppet cop Phil Phillips (Bill Barretta) must team up with his old partner Detective Edwards (Melissa McCarthy) to find the killer.

Review: It would be fair to say that the reception for The Happytime Murders has not been great. However it’s sense of humour is always going to have limited appeal, much like a comedian who only tells blue jokes.

The point is it’s not for everybody - but that’s fine. Those who get the joke will laugh and laugh, those who don’t can always watch something else. That may not be music to the ears of the money-men in Hollywood - and given the five different studio logos at the beginning, there are a few with their eyes on this one - but you don’t always have to make a film that pleases everybody. Of course, you still need to make a film that pleases somebody, and that must be a new experience for Melissa McCarthy.

Aside from the vastly overrated Bridesmaids, McCarthy hasn’t done many movies which have gone over well with the general public. The new Ghostbusters surely has to have been the nadir of her career, but you can’t help but feel that the movie succeeds in spite of her, not because of her. It’s not the lines that are the problem, but her delivery of them - there is a sense that the character works much better on paper. Aside from her it’s fun to see Joel McHale as the rigid and inflexible FBI agent (a straight man for many jokes), as well as the criminally underused Maya Rudolph as Phillips secretary, Bubbles.

In fact, either her or co-star Elizabeth Banks could probably have done a better job as Edwards, but that’s enough griping; the juxtaposition of puppets doing very human, very adult things, as well as some of the better jokes, mean this film is going to tickle an audiences funny-bone, just probably not a mainstream one.

#Film #Film Review #Film Reviews #Movies #Movie Reviews #The Happytime Murders #Brian Henson #Melissa McCarthy #Elizabeth Banks #Maya Rudolph #Joel McHale #Leslie David Baker #Cynthy Wu #Bill Barretta #Dorien Davies #Kevin Clash

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speewackfilms · 6 years

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Film Review | The Happytime Murders (2018)

So I can 100% see how this was a great idea at the start, the concept works: raunchy Muppets solve a serial killer case. Not so bad, right? Jam in a really really sloppy (and often offensive) racial allegory, make the drugs be candy, and pretty much rip off Who Framed Roger Rabbit? and that’s where it all goes wrong.

Some real craft went into this, the movie is decently made. It’s the dialogue and joke writing that are just achingly bad. There are some good jokes here and there, but mostly it’s all thinly-veiled racism, which is supposed to seem silly because it’s Muppets - but it’s still racism.

It makes police brutality and systemic racism into something of a cartoon joke, and when great films like Blindspotting came out this year - it’s just time for this shit to be over.

128 of 365.

1 out of 5.

#the happytime murders #melissa mccarthy #elizabeth banks #maya rudolph #joel mchale #comedy #muppets #puppetry #brian henson #film #film review #review #films #movie #movies #speewackfilms #365 film project #365 films

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thefandomentals · 6 years

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'The Happytime Murders' Doesn't Have the Stuffing It Needs

Everything I saw before going in to see The Happytime Murders prepared me for one of the worst films of the year. It’s not one of the worst, but no means does that mean it’s good. Brian Henson’s passion project is a deeply frustrating, flawed, and disgustingly misogynistic.

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#jim henson #the happytime murders #movie review

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moviechef69 · 3 years

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The Happytime Murders

What can I tell you this is not for kids not in anyway. If that what you want uou better go look somewhere else. This is the Muppets Rated R alot of adult jokes and content not for kids that said I like it. Its about a PI and cop that need to solve this murders that are happening.

My Rating 3/5

#follow #movies #follow me #movie review #movie rentals #movie recommendation #honest review #follow my tumblr #real review #review #comedy movies #comedy #the happytime murders

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