The Lost King (2022) - Movie Review

 

It’s been a while between drinks, but after a five-year gap since his last feature film, British director Stephen Frears is back in the cinema. Between 2015 and 2017, he came out with three films that I quite liked in The Program, Florence Foster Jenkins, and Victoria & Abdul, and as those were also my more formative years of trying to find my own voice as a critical writer, I’ve grown quite fond of the man’s style. And while I can certainly see what I liked back then still present today, there’s also a much more uneasy feeling attached to it this time around.

Greed (2020) - Movie Review

The latest collaboration from the winning team of writer/director Michael Winterbottom and actor Steve Coogan, Greed is an obvious if fitting title for a film all about the inner workings of the greedy and the ruthless in the world of business. Specifically, the world of high fashion, where Coogan’s Sir Richard McCreadie has made an infamous name for himself. And shortly after being brought up on official hearings for his shady business practices, he sets off for Mykonos to host a perversely-lavish 60^th birthday party.

Stan & Ollie (2019) - Movie Review

Time to take a trip back to the days of black-and-white cinema with a look at one of vaudeville’s most beloved acts: Laurel & Hardy. Vaudeville comedy has had such a tremendous impact not just on comedy but the cinematic medium as a whole that it is quite possible to understate just how important this movement was for the art form. From Charlie Chaplin to the Three Stooges to Abbott & Costello, this field of pantomime performance set a bedrock for pretty much every comedic work that would follow. As such, creating a biopic in tribute to one of these acts requires not only a willingness to respect the greats but also an objective admission of why they are the greats to begin with. And in all of the important ways, this manages to do just that.

Holmes And Watson (2018) - Movie Review

Supreme confidence + extreme incompetence. This relatively simple formula is in the DNA of an awful lot of comedy, where the humour is generated from characters who think they are far smarter than they actually are. It’s a form of stylistic hubris that many comedians owe the bulk of their legacies to, including the fabled pairing of Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly. However, while this is an equation that has yielded much success in the past, it’s also potentially tricky in the same way that most intentionally dumb comedies are: There has to be a distinction being a film that knows how stupid it is, and a film that is just plain stupid. Because much like the characters that bank on this style, there are few things more laughable than people with disproportionate egos. Except, of course, when the filmmakers themselves seem to share that trait.

Ideal Home (2018) - Movie Review

The plot: Celebrity chef Erasmus (Steve Coogan) and his producer and partner Paul (Paul Rudd) have their lives interrupted when a child (Jack Gore) arrives at their front door claiming to be Erasmus' grandson. As they struggle to accommodate the new arrival, and each other, Erasmus and Paul find themselves in a reluctant but eventually warming position of being the two dads of the child. Whether they want to stay this way remains to be seen.

The Secret Life Of Pets (2016) - Movie Review

Minions (2015) - Movie Review

This is the only natural progression that the series could have taken after Despicable Me 2. Between the increasing popularity of the Minions and the focus being brought squarely on them over pretty much anything else in the films, the next logical step would be a film all about the gibbering creatures. The idea that they’re going right ahead and dropping the pretence that people were watching the Despicable Me movies for any another reason than to see the Minions do funny things is a very good thing in my eyes; focus only on what you need to, rather than dragging yourself down for no reason. However, this could also prove to be a rather disastrous idea. Rough analogy time: Ol’ Dirty Bastard was a fun presence on any Wu-Tang Clan song, but listening to the entirety of one of his solo albums can cause some people to overdose; too much of a good and zany thing. Here’s hoping that this isn’t the case here.

Despicable Me 2 (2013) - Movie Review

Night At The Museum: Secret Of The Tomb (2014) - Movie Review

It’s a very bittersweet experience seeing a film like this; Robin Williams is one of my favourite comedians of all time with a wide pedigree of talent (despite a couple of film clunkers) whether it’s his excellent stand-up shows, his classic film roles like the Genie in Aladdin and Peter Pan in Hook, or his surprising talent at darker roles like One Hour Photo and his guest spot on Law & Order: SVU. It is a tragedy when anyone dies, but knowing who he was and how it happened… I’m getting choked up as I write this just thinking about it. But his works still remain to warm the hearts and tickle the funnybones of audiences for a long while yet; I firmly believe that men live on so long as they are remembered, and I doubt that Williams will be forgotten anytime soon. With that, let’s take a look at his final live-action film role that was also dedicated to his memory.