21 Jump Street

The reasons behind seeing this movie can be divided into three categories:
1. You were a dedicated fan of the late eighties early nineties TV series staring Johnny Depp.
2. You have an unhealthy obsession with Police Themed Movies.
3. Channing Tatum.
As it so happens with me, two out of  three of these categories can be applied to myself. Team Tatum-Hill is not something I would have ever thought possible or workable but in this rare instant I am happy to be somewhat mistaken.

Nothing except being unfortunate enough to not to attend their senior prom is the only thing that links Eminem wannabe Morton Schmidt (Jonah Hill) and hippy-jock Greg Jenko (Channing Tatum). When they meet again years later in Police Academy they push their petty high-school instinctual chain of command logic to the back burner to help each other pass in the academy. Though they pass the first step of become a full fledged police officers their overeagerness to become full fledged heroes falls short and it doesn't take long for them to screw up and they are shipped off to work for a special division. Location? 21 Jump Street.

Their first task is to infiltrate a high school, every losers nightmare and every jocks dream, but times have changed and the generations have evolved. Lucky for us Dave Franco who plays Mr Popular, Eric provides  refreshing characteristics of the otherwise stereotypical mundane and frankly overdone persona of every american high school teenager.
The films ending gave way to a very clear intention of a sequel and I say why not. The movie was comical on both an obvious laugh out loud level as well as a fifth grade intellectual level. Quirks, Quips and Quite frankly refreshing humour is something I look forward to witnessing again.

 

This Means War

Just your average run of the mill Best Friends Competing For The Same Girl type movie. Oh yeah, did I mention that both these men are secret agents...Or that they're played by Tom Hardy and Chris Pine? Well I guess when you factor in these minute details this film is far from ordinary.

An undercover assignment in Hong Kong that didn't end up as  covert as intended leaves CIA partners FDR Foster (Chris Pine) and Tuck Hansen (Tom Hardy) on desk duty. The downtime allows the men to focus on other things. Womaniser FDR is surprised when Tuck, uses his new found time to sign up for online dating.
Enter Lauren Scott (Reece Witherspoon) who works in product testing and is trying to move on with her life after she find out about her ex boyfriends new engagement. Registered to the same dating site as Tuck, they are paired as compatible and a lunch date is soon arranged sparks immediately fly but the fuse is shortened abruptly when Lauren stumbles into the lair for woman predator FDR.

We all know by now that guys talk, and sooner rather than later, both men realise they are into the same woman. Being cooped up in the office leaves their mission operating skills redundant, so what better way to make sure they don't loose their skills than spying on each other? Lauren is none the wiser, and as she slowly starts building a relationship with both men individually she struggles (albeit very slowly) to pick just one man.  Lucky for her, best friend Trish (Chelsea Handler) provides witty, enthusiastic, sexual and unhelpful advise to help her friend come to a difficult conclusion. Though what the rush was when she has two very attractive men doting on her I could never understand.

Battling each other to get the girl, battling with an arch nemesis with a vendetta for revenge and battling with just how much their friendship is worth this film is filled with a constant flow of laughs, cringes and testosterone, which ever side you pick. This is definitely war.