Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken (2023) - Movie Review

This film feels like a course correction in the worst way possible. DreamWorks Animation, who have dealt with labels of ‘Disney/Pixar rip-off’ pretty much since their inception, have recently been making films that are not only really damn good, but good in a way that sidesteps any kind of association with other studios. The Trolls movies, The Bad Guys, Captain Underpants, How To Train Your Dragon, not to mention last year’s genuine artistic triumph with Puss In Boots: The Last Wish. Their reputation in the modern day is quite secure, far as I’m concerned… which is what makes their latest release so thoroughly disappointing.

The Bubble (2022) - Movie Review

The words ‘satire’ and ‘irony’ can put some strange ideas in people’s heads. Under the right circumstances, they are the bedrock for attitudes behind some of the greatest works of art across many mediums. But under the wrong ones, they’re just an excuse for utter laziness. The Internet is basically a carwash that scrubs all manner of context from whatever is placed on it, and in that scrubbing, there is all manner of satirical humour that operates under the impression that, if you just admit that you’re lazy or just being a dick, that magically makes it okay and “the point” of doing so. But it’s one thing when the average layman tries their hand at something like this, which is usually embarrassing but nothing more than that; it's quite another when Hollywood money is being thrown at it.