A Boy Called Christmas (2021) - Movie Review

I’ve encountered quite a few films like this over the lifespan of this blog. These family-friendly, secular-reason-for-the-season Christmas origin stories like Klaus and The Man Who Invented Christmas that, rather than just retell the Biblical genesis (heh) of the holiday, take a more contemporary approach that acknowledges that it’s not just the religious that celebrate this time of year.

And coming from these particular creatives, I’d lying if I said I was entirely hopeful that this could hold up alongside those other two classic efforts. This is directed and co-written by Gil Kenan, who is not only co-writer on the upcoming Ghostbusters: Afterlife, but who we last checked in on with the totally unnecessary remake of Poltergeist, and also co-written by Ol Parker of Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again fame. If nothing else, this should be make for some interesting write-up fodder.

Where'd You Go, Bernadette (2020) - Movie Review

Richard Linklater has a real fascination with using cinema to capture life’s little moments as they happen. This will come as zero shock to those who witnessed the media hypestorm surrounding Boyhood a few years back, but a lot of his oeuvre shows this in one way or another. Whether it’s musing on bygone days, focusing on a single character’s need to break out of those bygone days, or literally following the same characters/cast over several in-real-time years to bridge reality and cinema closer, it’s an aesthetic that has led to some great work. With his latest, though, I find myself questioning whether this particular moment was worth making holy.

How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World (2019) - Movie Review

For all of Dreamworks’ somewhat questionable decisions (I am still willing to defend Boss Baby, but I understand being in the harsh minority with that position), the How To Train Your Dragon series has remained the undisputed feather in their cap. And for a threequel that is actively trying to close the book on that series, this is about as perfect a conclusion as they could have possibly drummed up for one of the most beloved big-screen properties.

Downsizing (2017) - Movie Review

The plot: As a means to combat overpopulation, a group of Norwegian scientists have come up with a ground-breaking solution: Literally shrinking the population down to a height of only five inches. Suburban couple Paul (Matt Damon) and Audrey (Kristen Wiig), unsatisfied with their current living conditions, decide to take part in the procedure… only for Audrey to back out at the last minute. Now shrunken and alone, Dave takes part in this brand new miniature society, only to discover that even this scenario has its drawbacks.

Despicable Me 3 (2017) - Movie Review

I think I owe Illumination Entertainment something of an apology. For the longest time, I always judged them mainly off of their take on Dr Seuss’ The Lorax, which still stands as one of the single worst films I’ve ever sat through in so many ways. However, that is honestly an outlier of their work: The rest of their films, in one way or another, have tapped into a sense of nostalgia for the olden days of animation and translated it quite remarkably for today’s audiences. Whether it’s the 2-D throwback of The Secret Life Of Pets to the tribute to all things musical with Sing, Illumination has secured its place in the industry as the most retro-minded studio working right now.

 

And the crown jewel of their work to date, the series that put them on the map, is Despicable Me. Or, more specifically, the Minions that have now taken a life of their own and, whenever a new film featuring them comes out, you will doubtless see them everywhere. So, in light of the studio’s pedigree and my admitted sensitivity to overblown marketing, how does this latest instalment turn out?

Masterminds (2016) - Movie Review

Zach Galifianakis, for as varied and kind of inconsistent as his filmography is, might be the quintessential modern comedian. He embodies our still-growing fascination with random and rather annoying occurrences, working with some of the biggest suppliers of that style of humour like Funny Or Die and Tim & Eric, yet he has enough common sense to not let the actual humour of those occurrences just get washed away. Hell, his breakout role in The Hangover was a serious lightning-in-a-bottle scenario that even that film’s sequels weren’t able to replicate. Not only that, he’s managed to move into more down-to-earth fare with Birdman and did a damn good job keeping up with the already stellar cast. He has two theatrical films out in cinemas right now, and even though this film’s poster has been lingering and instilling a form of dread in me for many months now, this is the one that I’m looking forward to by comparison.

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.

Ghostbusters (2016) - Movie Review

Well, time to get into what is undoubtedly the most hotly contested release of the year, and we’re off to a good start as it seems that no matter what side you fall on, there’s backlash. You’re either a misogynistic Neanderthal because you see the gender-swapped cast list and sense something is wrong, or a PC agenda-pushing feminazi because you’re agreeing with the gender-swapped cast on principle and for no other reason. So nice to see the entire Gamergate debacle encapsulated into a single film reaction, where everyone looks like a complete idiot. Now, this is all generalisation that usually fuels such arguments concerning gender roles in media, so I don’t give any points to either side. How fitting that, in a year where we had a film called Civil War, we have a fandom civil war brewing over this little piece of cinema. And to make matters worse, when dealing with a film this divisive, the worst place to be is on the fence.

Zoolander 2 (2016) - Movie Review

The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty (2013) - Movie Review

Ben Stiller, as a presence in Hollywood, frankly mystifies me. For a person who seems to have as much of an axe to grind on the establishment as he does, he sure spends a lot of his time in patently weaker productions. Sure, it’s as an actor, but it does feel like the game is playing him at times. I mean, the Meet The Parents series took a very steep decline that I can only hope is at its end and the Night At The Museum films, while okay diversions for kids, had way too much L.A. sheen to really buy into why Stiller would sign on for them… aside from the pay packet, of course.

Meanwhile, behind the camera, he’s made films like the epitome of clever filmmaking about dumb characters with Zoolander, the underrated comedic thriller The Cable Guy and let’s not forget his masterpiece as a satirical firebrand with Tropic Thunder. Something tells me that there was a bit of reality-influenced casting that went into his role in last year’s While We’re Young. Anyway, once again as prep for a newly-released film by the same director, time to take a look at his last release.

The Martian (2015) - Movie Review

To paraphrase one of the more boisterous names in space exploration: “Space: the final frontier”. However, something that is becoming clearer and clearer with every day since that phrase was first uttered is that space will always be the final frontier. Unlike our home planet, there is an infinite amount of, well, space outside of our atmosphere and it is expanding every second. The distance between points of interest (stars, planets, space fog, etc.) is occupied by a vacuum that seems to exist at the exact opposite of our ideal living conditions, and that’s if we even have a vessel that can stay in one piece during all that travel.

Is it any wonder, with all this in mind, that space travel and exploration is frequently used as the setting for dramas and thrillers? Sure, space combat will always be enticing, but the thought of how claustrophobic, hazardous and ultimately liberating leaving Earth for greener pastures can be has produced some truly amazing works of art, particularly in the realm of cinema. So, when director Ridley Scott decided to return to the cold void that yielded him a bona fide sci-fi classic with Alien (and a modest success with Prometheus), how did it turn out considering his last cinematic venture?

Despicable Me 2 (2013) - Movie Review