The Boss Baby 2: My My Dreamworks Is On The Decline

1.5/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

The brothers from the first film are now grown up and now there are new talking babies.

This film is only slightly better than the first. The only reason I have given it a half mark improvement is because they don’t go into the secret world of babies in as much tedious detail as the first film did. We are not subjected to exposition scene after exposition scene this time around.

However, what we do get here is not much better.

The film goes out of its way to show how after the first film, even though they were friends at the end of it, that the two boys have now grown apart as adults and have nothing to do with each other. As such the film spends a lot of it’s time showing them bonding, for some odd sense of sentimentality that never really comes together.

Moreover, the film never really justifies it’s own existence. That is probably because there is no reason for this film to exist. The new threat is laughably dull, and surely the secret baby organisation could have had any number of their agents deal with it, there is no reason why it has to be the boys from the first film.

Furthermore, the new female boss baby, voiced by Amy Sedaris, is totally needless as she adds nothing to the film and is really just there to be the new talking baby for the film. It is just gimmicky.

Overall, this film is entirely needless and is only very minorly better than the first film.

Pros.

Less exposition

Two funny jokes

Cons.

It is needless and doesn’t need to exist

It forces sentimentality for the sake of it

The new boss baby has nothing to do and no reason to be there

It is boring

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Fear Street Part One: Nothing Is More Of A Turn On Then Being Hunted Down By Undead Serial Killers

4/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A long dead witches’ curse turns mild mannered residents of the quiet town of Shadyside into vicious killers.

I remember loving the books of R.L Stein when I was a kid, I must have read them all hundreds of times over. This film not only manages to capture the spirit, but also does a much better job of being a ‘Goosebumps’ esque film that the one staring Jack Black that came out a few years ago.

I found the film to not only be scary, but also surprisingly well done. The scares were built through atmosphere and tension rather than through forced jump scares. I found the wider mystery of all these small town serial killers to be quite unnerving, and I think the film does a good job exploring that: with the answer given feeling satisfying and making sense.

Though usually I find teen characters, especially in a Netflix film, to be grating, vapid and deeply unlikeable I didn’t mind the line up here and almost warmed to them by the end of the film. The one thing I would comment on though is the asinine and cringe story choice to have the kids hook up whilst having the killers chasing them, there is a time and a place guys. I understand that the higher ups at Netflix clearly wanted some form of titillation put into the film, but this just feels forced in.

Moreover, the dialogue is cringe as hell and often there are lines where you’re baffled that someone actually got paid to write that.

Overall, a good film that suffers from a lot of familiar Netflix teen cliches and draw backs, but manages to overcome them in the long run.

Pros.

The mystery

The scares

The ending

The world and the characters therein

Cons.

The forced-in needless teen romance scenes

The dialogue

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Tuca And Bertie: Kyle

3.5/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Bertie manifests Kyle her inner bro in order to help her combat obnoxious men at work.

This episode certainly feels the most angry of the Tuca and Bertie series so far, and that is a great thing. Red on its surface this episode takes on toxic bro culture and also treads into MeToo and sexual harassment culture as well. I thought this was a powerful episode and one that was needed to address what Bertie went through with Pastry Pete.

I think this episode has a lot to say about society and our approach to powerful people who abuse those around them. It is right to point out how often all these figures need to do is say they are sorry or say they have changed, and then certain parts of the population will forgive them leaving the victims out in the cold. It is wrong, and I am glad this show has the balls to say it.

We get more emotional development for Tuca as well here, considering she was fairly side-lined in the last episode. We further the idea of loneliness and aimlessness that has come to encapsulate her character, as she drifts around trying to make a connection and achieve something, but even when she does she still isn’t happy.

I think this show is communicating a lot of hard and often uncomfortable topics through the means of animation, these things need talking about and that is why this show is so important as no one else is.

Overall, a strong episode and one that furthers the emotional growth of our leads.

Pros

Talking about difficult subjects

Bertie’s inner bro

Strong character development

Bringing back the Pastry Pete storyline

Cons.

It is not funny

It is quite saddening

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The Tomorrow War: More Emotions Less Bland CGI Shootouts

3/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A high school science teacher is conscripted to fight a war against aliens in our near future that could spell the extinction of the human race.

Chris Pratt usually brings a certain level of charm and likeability to his roles: his role here however was devoid of this. Indeed, any number of actors could have played Pratt’s part, some to a far better result as honestly Pratt seems bored for most of the film.

For the most part this film is a deeply average science fiction film. There is nothing here that you haven’t seen before and the premise feels a little overly familiar. Even the aliens look like a retread.

Although the occasional moment of pure and very real feeling emotion in this film helps to elevate it beyond mediocrity. The moments between Pratt’s character and his daughter feel very impactful, they effect you and if you are anything like me they make you well up a bit as well. Moreover, there are also moments between Pratt’s character and his estranged father played by J.K Simmons that also bring a tear to your eye. For an action film this is surprisingly emotional.

The cast, with the exception of Pratt excel here. Yvonne Strahovski, Simmons and Betty Gilpin all have scene stealing moments that really help to make the film and to standout against all the CGI shootouts.

Overall, a rare misfire for Pratt, but one that is slightly elevated beyond mediocrity by a strong heart.

Pros.

The emotion

Strahovski

The ending

Cons.

It is overly familiar

Too much of the film is just generic CGI shootouts

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Censor: The Fight Against Video Nasties

3.5/5

Written by Luke Barnes

This feels like a very British horror film. There is something about this feature that so perfectly taps into the moral panic and the second guessing of Britain’s war with gory films. In times gone by this film itself would have probably ended up on the banned ‘video nasties’ list, as it truly replicates the gore and psychological torment that made those films controversial, and it revels in it.

The film is made by its lead performance. Niamh Alger deserves awards recognition, though she will never get it as horror films are always excluded from serious awards contention. Alger plays troubled very well and her descent into madness is a thing to behold. Alger’s performance during the final ten minutes were everything reaches a peak and Alger’s character reaches the apex of her snap into fantasy is nothing short of terrifying.

Though I would not say this film is scary in a traditional way, I would say it was unsettling. Very much like Under The Silver Lake that I reviewed recently the fear comes from the mass hysteria and paranoid aspects that pollenate the film and make you question what you see, and the reality presented to you.

My one criticism would be that some of the horror elements here are a little vague, the film itself is not always clear as to what is going on and you have to piece a lot of it together yourself: this does make the film’s story a little harder to enjoy.

Overall, a strong original horror film that taps into a time and place in British horror history better than anything I have seen in a while, sadly it is a bit too cerebral at times to be wholly enjoyable.

Pros.

Alger

The mania

Tapping into a very real part of British history

The ending

Cons.

The ending/ a little too abstract

Pacing issues

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False Positive: Questionable Taste

1/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Lucy, Broad City’s Ilana Glazer, becomes convinced that the doctor involved with her artificial insemination has malicious intent.

A lot of the criticism of this film is misguided, I personally applaud the film for its upfront portrayal of the horror’s of motherhood: showing how the male fantasy of child birth and what it entails couldn’t be further from the truth.

That is wear my praise ends.

This film reminds me in many ways of Antebellum. That is not a compliment. Both are more focused on making a social and political point then they are with delivering an entertaining movie. This film feels like preaching, to the point of having a to the audience PSA about the patriarchy and it’s control of pregnancy. I have no issue with the arguments being presented, but I do have an issue with how it is being presented. Many films communicate similar social points in a more tasteful and crucially intelligent way where they blend in with the narrative and don’t threaten to overshadow it; this film goes drastically in the other direction.

Moreover, the films pushes the ideas of good taste in the service of making its points, most of the times it does this strays into incredibly bad taste. For an example of my point, there is a scene towards the end of the film where the lead tries to kill both of her babies by throwing them out the window, but doesn’t in the end, and then lets the dead foetus of the baby she wanted to have suckle on her breast. It made me uncomfortable viewing it. Maybe that was the point.

Also for anyone who has seen the film Rosemary’s Baby there are more than a few similarities here, and that is putting it mildly; though that point of criticism has been done to death here.

Overall, more of a political statement than a film, with questionable taste that will almost certainly make some viewers feel uncomfortable.

Pros.

It is bold, upfront and shocking in its approach to telling a female first horror film

Cons.

The social commentary lacks any subtly

The dead baby scenes

It is too familiar

It thinks it is deeper than it is

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iCarly: iRobot Wedding

4/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Carly and co head to the wedding of her nemesis. Whilst there Carly becomes convinced that the bride to be is a robot.

I would say barring the first this is the best episode of the revival so far. That is mainly because this episode moves away from mocking internet culture, whilst also in some ways embodying everything it is poking fun at, and instead decides to just tell new stories involving these characters- with only a slight amount of nostalgia baiting.

I enjoyed the robot storyline and the absurdity of it, for a minute I genuinely believed Carly was right and that the bride was in fact a robot. Moreover, I thought Carly was at her most human and most likeable here and the romance they are trying to set up between her and Freddie seems like it will take the show in a wholesome positive direction.

My main complaint of the episode would be all the jokes from Laci Mosley’s Harper, that basically boiled down to ‘straight people are weird right’, not only did they feel out of place and weirdly jarring but if flipped the internet would break out in a huge outcry. As I have said previously you don’t solve issues such as racism, sexism, homophobia etc by just flipping it so its now the other way round. What made these series of jokes worse was that though they were not funny at al the first time around, they are repeated over and over again, which can only make them more funny right?

Overall, a close second best episode of the series so far.

Pros.

Carly, and her robot theory

Carly and Freddie

A few nice human moments

Enough nostalgia to be fondly remembered but not used as a crutch

Cons.

Harper’s straight people are weird jokes

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The Bad Batch: Bounty Lost

2.5/5

Written by Luke Barnes

The episode starts out by ditching Crosshair once again and instead focusing entirely on Omega, a very bad decision. The reason why this is bad is because it loses all the tension and excitement from the previous episode and immediately makes the situation easier for the heroes as now they are just free to track Omega down no bother- which makes it less interesting.

We spend most of the episode with Omega as we find out more about her origins and watch her try and escape from Cad Bane. None of this makes you warm any further to the character, and the point still stands that without Omega the Bad Batch as a show would be much more interesting.

The best thing that comes out of the kidnapped Omega storyline is the bounty hunter fight between Bane and Fennec Shand, which is entertaining to watch as each tries to out do the other with some nice set pieces thrown in for good measure.

The series still seems directionless, yes we know that Omega is wanted and is valuable as she is a perfect clone of Jango Fett, but other than that we have no idea where the series is heading. Are we going back to more villain of the week episodes now that Crosshair has been sent back into the ignored void? Or are we going to get more origin story for Omega? Both prospects seem equally bleak.

Overall, Omega has easily become the worst part of the show and it needs to ditch her as soon as it can- she is no Grogu.

Pros.

The bounty hunter fight

The ending tease of intrigue

Cons.

Omega is a weak character and worse still annoying

They forget about Crosshair once again

The tension and build up from the previous episode is lost almost immediately

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Good On Paper: Films Like This Are Why More And More People Are Cancelling Netflix

1/5

Written by Luke Barnes

It has been a while since Netflix has made a truly poor comedy film, there was a small part of me that was hoping that maybe they had learned what audiences want and what they don’t in a comedy film, but no- this film proves they are still as clueless as ever.

So there is an old adage that you may have heard of ‘two wrongs don’t make a right’, growing up I heard it all the time, yet never is it better displayed than in this film. So, there is a scene in the film where the female lead looks over at a would be suitor’s body and says how gross and out of shape he is, in other words she body shames him. She then turns to the camera and justifies her actions by saying men do it all the time so its fine. So yes the moral of the film is not to change problematic sexist behaviour, no rather just gender flip it because that makes it okay.

Yes, the victim of this body shaming does end up being a baddie, but the audience is not aware at the time, and even if they were does that make it okay? Surely this sort of behaviour is never okay, especially not when the lead of the film is supposed to be likeable, and the audience is supposed to root for them.

Moreover, the laugh count for jokes was quite weak. Now, I won’t spend too much time on this point as humour is subjective and what is not very funny to me might be hilarious to you, but I only found a handful of funny moments here, and these were more chuckles then strong belly laughs, for the most part I just found the film’s sense of humour predictable and oddly tame.

Overall, this is exactly the sort of the lame film that you would expect from Netflix and that’s a shame as they are starting to build themselves a negative reputation as pedlars of trash, the Mindhunter days are long gone.

Pros.

One or two good jokes

Cons.

Mostly not funny

Very predictable

A little too safe

The body shaming

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Siberia: The Real Horror Here Is That You Can Never Get Your Time Back From Watching This

2/5

Written by Luke Barnes

I’m a big fan of Willem Dafoe but this was a miss for sure. The main issue with this film is that without reading several different plot summaries online, you will have no idea what is happening for most of the film. I understand that this is a deliberate choice and the film wants you to the do the work in piecing the events happening together, but it is so poorly constructed that that is almost impossible to do.

Moreover, there is a weirdly large amount of nudity in this film that really servers no purpose. I am no prude, but this just feels voyeuristic and needless. You can show that Dafoe’s character is a letch who abandoned his family for various one night stands without showing them all in graphic detail; it is almost as though this film is one part softcore porn film.

Dafoe makes this film bearable, and some of the conversational scenes where he is talking to others or different versions of himself are interesting and well-acted, yet this loses any impact it might have as you can’t translate this into any form of meaning with regards to the wider story or what is going on.

Overall, I go back and forth on whether this film was pretentiously abstract on purpose, or whether it was just poorly conceived.

Pros.

Dafoe

The premise is interesting

Cons.

It is in no way scary

The nudity is needless

It makes no sense and for large chunks of the film you have no idea what is going on

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