Night School – Film #89

Posted on October 23, 2018 by Dave On Film

Night School or Nightmare?

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Title – Night School
Certificate – 12A
Director – Malcolm D. Lee
Writers – Kevin Hart, Harry Ratchford, Joey Wells, Matthew Kellard, Nicholas Stoller, John Hamburg
Cast – Tiffany Haddish (Carrie), Kevin Hart (Teddy Walker), Mary Lynn Rajskub (Theresa)
Plot – A group of troublemakers are forced to attend night school in hope that they’ll pass the GED exam to finish high school.

Billy Madison has had a remake with current funnyman Kevin Hart in the lead role. Gone are Adam Sandler’s garish grunts, replaced with Hart’s razor sharp wit.

It’s a simple story, man inherits business only if he can pass his school exams, man goes back to school, man abuses someone on way to first day at school, man finds out that it was his school teacher. It’s all there. From the crackpot students surrounding the lead, to the back and forth between Hart and Haddish.

I felt so much like it shouldn’t work…like it shouldn’t be funny at all…but it did.

Granted, most of the actual laughs and comedy come from the other students in the class. Rob Riggle is crazy, Romany Malco is hilarious as a conspiracy nut, and Mary Lynn Rajskub is nuttier than a fruitcake, but with a heart.

As the comedy continued to surprise me (most of the good stuff is not in the trailer), I found I was really enjoying the film.

Its funny and engaging without ever pushing itself any further than it needed to.

3/5

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Bad Times At The El Royale – Film #88

Posted on October 16, 2018 by Dave On Film

Bad times or good times?

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Title – Bad Times At The El Royale
Certificate – 15
Director – Drew Goddard
Writers – Drew Goddard
Cast – Jeff Bridges, Cynthia Erivo, Dakota Johnson, Jon Hamm, Chris Hemsworth

DO NOT MISS THIS FILM!

Go see it at your earliest convenience.

It’s Tarantino meets Cabin In The Woods. It also has that old school hitchcock-feel in that everything is confined to a small space for the film to unfold…and boy does it unfold.

It all starts so calmly, some random people are checking into a hotel…but we soon find out that everyone has their secrets and they are all about to be unravelled in the craziest way.

Amazing soundtrack throughout and some of the most tense scenes I have ever witnessed…this isn’t a horror, far from it, but there were some moments when I was genuinely on the edge of my seat wondering what was about to happen!

Get to the cinema…do yourself a favour…watch this!

5/5

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Johnny English Strikes Again – Film #87

Posted on October 14, 2018 by Dave On Film

Strikes again or damp squib?

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Title – Johnny English Strikes Again
Certificate – PG
Director – David Kerr
Writers – William Davies
Cast – Rowan Atkinson (Johnny English), Ben Miller (Bough), Emma Thompson (Prime Minister), Olga Kurylenko (Ophelia)

Plot – After a cyber-attack reveals the identity of all of the active undercover agents in Britain, Johnny English is forced to come out of retirement to find the mastermind hacker.

Johnny English is back. Rowan Atkinson gets back into his silly-suave best as the hapless MI7 agent who needs to find the source of a big Cyber Attack and save the world from being taken over by hackers.

I have seen the trailer for this film numerous times…and it worried me…a lot! I knew there would be a scene with him wearing VR and that I had seen every shot of it in the trailers. I also knew that there was a scene where he throws something behind him and someone slips on it…was I about to go into a film where I had seen all the best bits?

The answer is…no.

Sure, when those bits came around, I expected there to be silence in the cinema and a bit of eye rolling from me…but I laughed…every…single…time! It just worked.

There’s something about Rowan Atkinson’s face which just makes me laugh.

Sure, they telegraph about 90% of the comedy moments, and often it doesn’t work, but this time around I felt like it worked perfectly.

I must’ve just been in the mood for silliness and slapstick.

4/5

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Smallfoot – Film #86

Posted on October 14, 2018 by Dave On Film

Smallfoot or big letdown?

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Title – Smallfoot
Certificate – PG
Director – Karey Kirkpatrick, Jason Reisig (co-directors)
Writers – Karey Kirkpatrick (Screenplay), Clare Sera (Screenplay), John Requa (Screen Story), Glenn Ficarra (Screen story), Karey Kirkpatrick (Screen story), Sergio Pablos (based on the book “Yeti Tracks” by)
Cast – Channing Tatum (Migo), James Corden (Percy), Zendaya (Meechee), Common (Stonekeeper)

Plot – A Yeti is convinced that the elusive creatures known as “humans” really do exist.

I thoroughly enjoyed Smallfoot. It felt refreshing and well put together. Its animation which works so well. There’s a lot of White throughout in all the scenery, but everything looked massively crisp and clean and perfectly put together.

In a way, it borrowed a little from Monsters Inc, a world of creatures that Humans don’t know about, but the film focusing on those creatures and their struggle to understand the Human world.

Most of the voice acting was on point. It was great to see Danny DeVito back in an animation role too (I am a huge Hercules fan).

The only place I felt it fell down was James Corden’s casting. Much like Peter Rabbit, I struggled to fit his voice in which the character he was portraying. He has a very distinct voice and it just takes you away from the animation and into just picturing James Corden.

Other than that though, this was great. I expect there’s someone somewhere making commentary on race and beliefs and acceptance of cultures into your lives…but if you want just a good old fashioned comedy animation this is it.

It’s silly in parts, but a funny silly. It works well. The Yeti world was spot on, having them running their own civilisation. There’s a moment that really made me chuckle where Migo’s Dad is explaining that he comes from a long line of Yetis who ring a morning gong with their heads. They literally catapult themselves across the town and hit their head into the gongs. They all have flat heads. One of the ancestors was one who “had a stupid idea about a mallet” and is quickly dismissed as the black sheep of the family. I loved it.

Kids will love this, adults will get a good laugh from it too.

4/5

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The House With A Clock In Its Walls – Film #85

Posted on October 7, 2018 by Dave On Film

Big House or ruined remains?

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Title – The House With A Clock In Its Walls
Certificate – 12A
Director – Eli Roth
Writers – Eric Kripke (Screenplay by), John Bellairs (Based on the novel by)
Cast – Jack Black (Jonathan Barnavelt), Cate Blanchett (Florence Zimmerman), Owen Vaccaro (Lewis Barnavelt), Kyle MacLachlan (Isaac Izzard)
Plot – A young orphan named Lewis Barnavelt aids his magical uncle in locating a clock with the power to bring about the end of the world.

Eli Roth needs to stick to gory horror porn and away from overly used CG object porn.

This film is a bit of a mess. I know it’s taken from source material but I need to see whether the book is as all over the place as this is.

Firstly, it’s not funny. Jack Black just plays himself in this, and unfortunately its not coming across great on screen.

It’s like Harry Potter meets Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe, but with very restrained magic, and CG which just just doesn’t hit the mark.

Obviously go make your own opinion…but mine is that it’s pretty shit…I fell asleep for a fairly large portion of it too.

Not the worst film, but nothing much to it

2/5

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Venom – Film #84

Posted on October 7, 2018 by Dave On Film

Hardy on form or Hardy-ly anything fun?

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Title – Venom
Certificate – 15
Director – Ruben Fleischer
Writers – Jeff Pinkner, Scott Rosenberg & Kelly Marcel
Starring – Tom Hardy (Eddie Brock/Venom), Michelle Williams (Anne Weying), Riz Ahmed (Carlton Drake)
Plot – When Eddie Brock acquires the powers of a symbiote, he will have to release his alter-ego “Venom” to save his life.

Another month, another Superhero movie…but Venom is no ordinary superhero. He’s been classed as an Anti-Hero, a kind of Jekyll and Hyde type character who lives inside Eddie Brock, part of him yet separate.

Venom is a straight-talking being, quipping snide remarks to Hardy’s Brock whenever he can. Hardy also voiced Venom throughout the film, as well as had feedback of the pre-recorded lines into his ear whenever shooting the scenes where Venom it talking in his head.

So before I went to see this film, I heard a lot of negative press and stories about the film…but I was pleased I went to judge it for myself.

It’s fun, it can get a little frantic, but it is worth a watch. I know there’s a lot being said about where the film is pitched in the terms of alignment with the Spiderverse, and indeed the original source comics, but I thought, as a character I knew very little about, it was great.

Also…Tom Hardy was decent. I am not normally a big fan of his due to his incessant mumbling in roles, but he actually sounded OK in this and it paid off.

3/5

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A Star Is Born – Film #83

Posted on September 27, 2018 by Dave On Film

A Star, or a dying ember of light?

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Title – A Star Is Born
Certificate – 15
Director – Bradley Cooper
Writers – Eric Roth, Bradley Cooper & Will Fetters (Screenplay)
Cast – Lady Gaga (Ally), Bradley Cooper (Jackson Maine), Sam Elliott (Bobby)
Plot – A musician helps a young singer and actress find fame, even as age and alcoholism send his own career into a downward spiral.

FILM OF THE YEAR!

Go see this in the cinema as soon as you are able to.

Thanks to Cineworld and their Unlimited Preview Screenings, tonight we saw A Star Is Born…and I am so happy we got this opportunity.

I feel like I have just been through an emotional rollercoaster of music and story. It feels like we’ve just been at a Lady Gaga concert, with Bradley Cooper supporting, and an amazing story being told throughout.

The whole film is well directed and acted. It feels raw. Lady Gaga is stripped back from the wild Gaga we’re used to seeing. This genuinely feels more like her telling her own story. You can’t help feeling when she is talking about how no-one takes her seriously in the music business because of her looks, that we’re getting an insight into her early career.

Plus…she can bloody act! She was phenomenal…and that voice…just WOW!

Oh yeah…and Bradley Cooper can sing amazingly too!

Just go see this film…its truly amazing

5/5

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A Simple Favour – Film #82

Posted on September 25, 2018 by Dave On Film

Simple fun or complicated mess?

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Title – A Simple Favor (Favour)
Certificate – 15
Director – Paul Feig
Writers – Jessica Sharzer  (Screenplay) & Darcey Bell (Based upon the novel by)
Cast – Anna Kendrick (Stephanie Smothers), Blake Lively (Emily Nelson), Henry Golding (Sean Townsend)
Plot – A woman seeks to uncover the truth behind the disappearance of her best friend.

Quirky is a term which gets thrown around a lot…but that is the best word I can use to describe this film.

Firstly, I loved it. It’s stylish and well written. The acting is absolutely on point and everything gets put together really well.

Basic story is that Stephanie and Emily are both mothers of boys in the same class at school. They get together for a play date and things escalate from there. They are building a friendship when suddenly Emily goes missing, leaving her son and husband behind. Stephanie tries to track her down using her vlog and going rogue herself to try to find out what happened to her new friend.

Director Paul Fieg is more known for his comedies. He directed Bridesmaids, The Heat, Spy, Ghostbusters….basically anything with Melissa McCarthy!

But here he’s working with Anna Kendrick who plays Stephanie with absolute precision. She’s goofy and naive and opposite Blake Lively’s smooth, sophisticated, yet troubled Emily, the partnership works really well.

Throw in Henry Golding (recently seen in Crazy Rich Asians) and the trinity is complete.

The whole film feels like it could have been played out entirely with just our three main characters, so much so that it wouldn’t be amiss as a theatre production with just the three actors.

As everything begins to unfold, the story takes a few lurches, but all comes back together perfectly. The back and forth between all the players in the final scene really hooked me in and made me want more of it. It felt like dialogue from a Tarantino movie, and actually reminded me a lot of a film called Very Bad Things, where everything begins to unravel around everyone.

A fantastic film, with a great cast and a cracking french-esque soundtrack carrying it through.

It’s fiesty, it’s funny, it’s frantic in places, it’s stylish and clever and thoroughly well done.

4/5

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Mile 22 – Film #81

Posted on September 23, 2018 by Dave On Film

22 miles, or too much distance?

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Title – Mile 22
Certificate – 18
Director – Peter Berg
Writers – Lea Carpenter (Story & Screenplay), Graham Roland (Story)
Cast – Mark Wahlberg (James Silva), Lauren Cohan (Alice Kerr), Iko Uwais (Li Noor), John Malkovich (Bishop), Ronda Rousey (Sam Snow
Plot – An elite American intelligence officer, aided by a top-secret tactical command unit, tries to smuggle a mysterious police officer with sensitive information out of the country.

You want action? Come get some action.

Mile 22 is 22 miles of action packed fun.

The story is simple, Li Noor turns up to the US Embassy with a disk containing all the locations of some missing Weapon of Mass Destruction materials. He promises them they can have the code to unlock all the information about the whereabouts if they get him onto a plane 22 miles away. Naturally there’s literally everyone out to kill him and stop the team getting into the files so it becomes a battle against small armies of soldiers as they attempt to cross the cities to get to the airport.

Mark Wahlberg’s character is intense, from his manic speaking to his lack of emotions in the field. It’s established very early on that he has issues that he is attempting to deal with. Lauren Cohen is having to juggle secret military life with that of being a mother going through a divorce.

Then you have Ike Uwais who just wants to be transported and will freely give up the code once there. He is great. If you have ever seen any of the “Raid” films, you will know how skilled he is in fight scenes…and there’s certainly some of them in this.

It’s fun, its frantic and it’s very, very violent and definitely earns its 18 certification…something I was only saying the other day that there’s not that many of them about nowadays.

I loved it

4/5

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The Little Stranger – Film #80

Posted on September 23, 2018 by Dave On Film

Stranger, or too strange?

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Title – The Little Stranger
Certificate – 12A
Director – Lenny Abrahamson
Writers – Lucinda Coxon & Sarah Waters (Novel)
Cast – Domhnall Gleeson (Faraday), Ruth Wilson (Caroline Ayres), Will Poulter (Roderick Ayres) & Charlotte Rampling (Mrs Ayres)
Plot – After a doctor is called to visit a crumbling manor, strange things begin to occur.

This is a film to keep you guessing and keep your mind ticking over even after you have left the cinema.

It’s the story of Faraday, a doctor in the early 20th Century who comes back to a big house he visited when he was a boy (his mother worked there), to see to a sick girl. It soon becomes apparent though that the girl is not sick and is just petrified about something in the house.

You also have Will Poulter putting in a great shift as the war-scarred Roderick who shies away from public life, ashamed of his scarring. He plays the character really well, with an edginess that he has pulled off in roles before. When he begins to talk about something in the house that hates them all, it actually makes you sit up and think about what is going on.

This is not a horror film.

So if you have seen any of the trailers, and indeed read the bit I have already typed, you could be easily fooled into thinking that this was an out-and-out horror flick, but you would be wrong. The main focus of the film is the relationship between Faraday and Caroline, how they are drawn closer, whilst also struggling to find the common ground to start from.

There’s an eerie air over the entire film, like there’s something always there. You see odd moments of blurry camerawork in certain points and shots which just make you feel a little on edge, without ever tipping you into fear itself.

I enjoyed it. It’s pretty slow paced, but with that constant tension overriding everything, you feel you’re never too far away from a small moment of madness, something which Charlotte Rampling’s Mrs Ayres suffers greatly.

Enjoyable, but not necessarily one you need to rush to the cinema to see.

3/5

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