Joy Ride (2023) - Movie Review

After spending the last few years focusing more on streaming with The Boys, Invincible, and the Pam & Tommy miniseries, my favourite modern film studio is back on the big screen. Yes, Point Grey Pictures, Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg’s production company, who I have come to adore for their consistently fun releases and unrivalled knack for matching licensed music to film. On top of their long-awaited return (by me, at least), it also comes in the form of something else I haven’t seen much of over the last few years: A proper American-R-rated raunchy comedy. Y’know, the kind I used to bitch about fairly often because they kept stopping the film dead just so the actors could riff off of each other without actually furthering the plot? Good times.

The Fabelmans (2022) - Movie Review

It has basically become a running joke in film geek circles about how much of Steven Spielberg’s filmography involves him fixating on his own parents. Filtered through the kind of industry-defining vision that would make him one of the medium’s most important figures, his films irrespective of genre have involved a lot of father/son conflicts, mourning the loss of connection with family, and just a general sense of unrest concerning authority figures. For decades, Spielberg has been using his complicated feelings about his parents’ divorce to define and later redefine what is now known as the ‘blockbuster’.

And now, it seems that he is ready to stop dancing around the subject, and just make a film about that event in his life... albeit with still a thin layer of fictionalisation, although still the thinnest that he’s applied yet. What comes out of it is not only Spielberg’s best work in years, but something that feels like it had to make.

Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers (2022) - Movie Review

Along with being a certified cinematic classic, and one of my personal favourite films, Who Framed Roger Rabbit? has become quite influential in how modern tentpole cinema is marketed nowadays. From Ready Player One to Ralph Breaks The Internet, right down to Avengers: Endgame, the big studios have been banking on productions that exist primarily for crossover potential between the different properties that they own. Except, while its position as an intercompany crossover is certainly part of the appeal (seeing Bugs Bunny and Mickey Mouse on-screen together still carries a certain childish thrill to it even today), Who Framed Roger Rabbit? was about much more than just the crossovers. Up to this point, it seemed like it would be one of many Hollywood successes where all the wrong lessons were taken as to why it was successful, just so modern studios can try (and repeatedly fail) to recapture that magic. Well, until this film, that is.

An American Pickle (2020) - Movie Review

 

I’ve made it no secret that I am a serious fanboy of Point Grey Pictures, Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg’s production studio. I await every new release from them with bated breath, and every time I expect the bottom to fall out from their enviable track record over the 2010s… well, between The Interview and Game Over, Man!, it hasn’t been spotless but it has kept me entertained for a very long time by now. Their latest is something of a torch-passing moment for solo debut director Brandon Trost, who worked as DOP on some of PG’s bigger successes like The Night Before and The Disaster Artist. And honestly, even removing my own biases from the equation, this is one hell of an opening sprint.

The Lion King (2019) - Movie Review

This has been quite a year for Disney revamping its classic properties. Alongside sequels to their genuine classics like Mary Poppins Returns and Toy Story 4, 2019 has also marked the year where they have given us not one but three remakes/retoolings of some of their older works. We started with the surprisingly strong Dumbo that basically took Disney itself to task for its business practices, and then we had the astoundingly shite Aladdin which can rest easily among Disney’s worst productions ever. And now, we have a remake of the perennial favourite Lion King, with the director of the quite fantastic Jungle Book remake returning for another bit of photorealistic animal shenanigans. The end result, however, is… well, it’s certainly not the worst to come out of this trend, but it is easily the most pointless.

Long Shot (2019) - Movie Review

One of the oldest tropes in romantic comedy is the idea of mismatching someone conventionally attractive with someone unconventionally attractive. If you’ve seen any movie or any sitcom in the last handful of decades, you’ve seen this in action. It usually takes the form of a schlubby guy who is either going out with or is married to a beautiful woman, with the internal joke being the audience questioning how he got her.

Today’s film, the latest from my favourite film studio working right now Point Grey Pictures, is another in this grand tradition, and after narrowly dodging a bullet with their last film, I was honestly worried that this was going to be the point where the bottom fell out of this studio’s fantastic track record. I should really stop underestimating these guys because, while this is indeed a rom-com, its real ambitions are bigger. A lot bigger. Like, this is the kind of shit we need in circulation right now.

The Disaster Artist (2017) - Movie Review

Some films go down as the greatest of their era. Some go down as the greatest of any era. Some go down as the worst of their era, and then trickle down into being the worst of any era. But some films, a rare few, manage to find a middle ground: Something that by all rationality should go down as one of the worst but is instead remembered as something great.

 

There’s been quite a few examples of this in my lifetime alone. The all-round shoddy production values of the Birdemic films have kept coathangers in everyone’s hands since the first one’s release in 2010. M. Night Shyamalan, for many years, was regarded as one of the absolute worst, with such crowning jewels of hilariously awful as The Happening and After Earth under his belt. Hell, depending on who you ask, even the Twilight series enters into this realm of reputation. But for my money, no singular bad film has given me more joy than Tommy Wiseau’s 2003 magnum opus The Room.

 

And apparently, I’m not the only one, seeing as the film’s reputation has grown so much over the last few years that we now have a Hollywood production all about the making of the infamous classic. But how does it hold up?

Sausage Party (2016) - Movie Review

I once again find myself in a position similar to that when I reviewed Vacation, where I am under the impression that I could watch virtually anything as a follow-up and it’s bound to be a step-up from what I saw previously. While my opinion on Lights Out has been softened slightly in light of its rewrite, make no mistake, I still hate that piece of trash. So, I figured I’d actively go out and find a film I was really looking forward to, and this was certainly it. I’ve made my point about how much I’ve come to appreciate the films produced by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, but this might have one of the most striking trailers I’ve seen all year. Like, on par if not better than the trailer for 10 Cloverfield Lane, which turned out to be one of the best films of the year so far. Now, with how family-friendly animated films have really taken on board the idea of appealing everyone in said family with more mature story-telling and a basic level of respect for its audiences, I would normally question if making an R-rated animated film is even necessary in today’s day and age. As I’m about to get into, that question got answered in the best way possible.

Bad Neighbours 2: Sorority Rising (2016) - Movie Review

2014’s Bad Neighbours, or Neighbors as it is known in the U.S., might be one of the best stoner comedies of recent years. Nicholas Stoller struck gold on this one, using the tried-and-true formula of weed smokers contemplating their place in life and the prospect of getting older and creating some genuinely thought-provoking work. It might have some of the best character writing of the entire year’s crop worth of films, up to and including Zac Efron’s weirdly relatable antagonist turned near-supervillain. And, of course, it was also my first proper exposure to the absolutely brilliant use of music that is a trademark of Point Grey Productions, making me better appreciate film soundtracks from then on. So, naturally, when the sequel was announced, I was undoubtedly looking forward to it. Sure, it seems to be following Sequel Rule #2425 (If in doubt, swap the genders out), but I have enough faith in these filmmakers and these actors to still bring decent product. I’ve mentioned before that I have no issue with being proven wrong when it comes to expectations; yeah, not so much this time, so let’s just hope it all works out.

Steve Jobs (2016) - Movie Review

I hate Apple. That’s probably a statement that is both echoed frequently and also usually done as a means of drawing aggro, but I stand by it: I hate Apple. And yes, as I type this, I am also checking my emails on my iPhone, so trust me when I say that I understand the hypocrisy that can come with such a statement. From their addition to the effort of homogenizing the entire world, rivalling Starbucks in their ubiquity, to just the sheer audacity of their business model that ultimately only serves to fatten wallets and landfills in equal measure and velocity. But, that’s not to say that I’m going to let any of this filter my opinion of today’s film. I just want to reiterate a point I made back in Citizenfour, where hatred for the original subject shouldn’t translate to insta-hate on part of the film. I may have a real issue with the company that hipsters rally under like beige Lemmings, but I have enough faith in director Danny Boyle and writing legend Aaron Sorkin to portray one of its key figures in a compelling enough fashion. This is Steve Jobs.

The Night Before (2015) - Movie Review

  

Well… that last one didn’t go well. Maybe we need to push a little further past simple dysfunction and go head-first into insanity. After all, even more so than the grouchiness, Christmas’ simplicities have given way to quite a bit of eccentricity in retaliation. Die Hard is a quintessential holiday movie, Weird Al Yankovic’s doomsday-ready carols are being sung with gusto, and there’s even a film set to come out this year based on the Germanic Yuletide monster Krampus… that will hopefully hit cinema screens by the end of the year because, good God, I want to see a Christmas monster movie! I talked all about it a couple years back by highlighting a TV episode about a Bogan Genie Santa, in case there’s any more doubt on the issue. Anyway, for our second attempt at finding a decent Christmas movie, it’s time to revisit an old friend who nearly caused a world war (which, let’s face it, is still less ridiculous than being led by the Human Hairpiece) as we delve into another Christmas stoner flick. Yes, thanks to Harold & Kumar, this is a sub-genre that already exists.

The Interview (2015) - Movie Review

Well, after the essay I wrote about Fifty Shades Of Fucked Up, I figured I’d follow it up with something a little easier to digest. So here I am talking about a film that nearly kinda maybe could have started a world war… possibly. Yeah, there’s a fair bit of background info to spool through before even getting into the film proper this time round. When you’re dealing with a film centred on the assassination of the leader of a foreign nation, it’d be a miracle if there wasn’t some form of backlash against the film but that’s just the start of it. Between North Korea’s UN ambassador declaring the film as "sponsoring terrorism" and "an act of war", the hacking of Sony Entertainment’s networks by the Guardians of Peace and subsequent leaking of several films along with certain sensitive information, and the reaction to all this that nearly ended up with the film not being released at all, I don’t know whether to call this the greatest marketing ploy ever or an awesome attempt at creating a Homefront LARPing session. Of course, there’s also the possibility that all of this media furore surrounding the film could end up overshadowing it and creating a lot of build-up for what might be a so-so comedy.