Clueless: Austen Revisited

Clueless is a coming of age comedy film directed by Amy Heckerling, loosely based on the Jane Austin novel Emma. The plot sees teen socialite Cher (Alicia Silverstone), Queen of her high school, take the new girl Thai (Brittney Murphy), under her wing.

I have heard a lot of people talk about this film for a while, it has a real strong cult following, so I decided to check it out for myself. I was naturally comparing it to the other adaption of Emma, the more recent adaption from this very year.

I found this to be the better of the more recent American Emma adaptions, it had that lively spirit and wit that I feel the 2020 version was lacking. I always enjoy when they modernise classic tales and give them a newer twist, like the Leo Romeo and Juliet film from a while back.

I thought that all of the characters felt warm and had a good amount of rootability, though Cher did nasty thing it never reached a point where I didn’t like her as a character, she never felt cold or mean spirited.

The one thing I would flag up is the icky main romance. They changed a lot of things from the classic story for this film so why they kept this in is beyond me. In the film Josh (Paul Rudd), is Cher’s stepbrother, to add to that he is in college (University for non-Americans) and Cher is in high school she is 16 years old, both of these factors make for a deeply troubling romance, that honestly shouldn’t happen.

Overall, a quirky fresh take on an old classic. The characters felt warm and the humour landed even if the odd nearly incestuous age inappropriate relationship didn’t.

Pros.

A fresh take

The humour

Fun rootable characters

Cons.

A few things were lost in translation

The main central romance was deeply troubling

3/5

Reviewed by Luke

Beirut: John Hamm Plays A Worse Version Of Don Draper

Beirut is a political thriller film directed by Brad Anderson. The plot sees an ex spook negotiator be brought back to Beirut after the death of his wife to save his friend who is being held hostage. Only a man with nothing left to lose can pull off a deal that no one wants to happen.

I think this film is quite generic, when you start watching a lot of these genre films you see patterns start to emerge and this one seem to feature all of the patterns under the sun. You will have seen it before. How many times have we seen the super spy who is great at what he does, brought close to breaking by the death of a loved one, only to have to seek redemption and prove himself again? That is basically the three acts of this film summed up without spoilers.

It doesn’t have anything new or interesting to say about the situation in the Middle East, it is just the same old same old.

John Hamm and Rosamund Pike are strong leads and bring a certain level of presence and prestige to the film, but they are stifled by a bad script. We barely get to see any range from either skilled performer, and both feel like they’re written to be cliches of other better characters they’ve played in the past.

Overall, deeply generic. Fine in a pinch okay to miss.

Pros.

Hamm and Pike are trying

I enjoyed the ending, I thought it was smart

Cons.

The script stifles them

It has nothing new to say

I feel like I’ve seen it before

It wasn’t hugely engaging

1.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

A United Kingdom: One Of Africa’s Greatest Romance’s

A United Kingdom is a British biographical romance drama film directed by Amma Asante. The plot follows the real-life story of Sir Seretse Khama (David Oyelowo), and Ruth Williams (Rosamund Pike) Khama, a king to be who defied the world and married a common English women. Their love was met with hate and strife at damn near every turn, but they kept fighting.

I think this film is a triumph, it was sweet, compelling, and also infuriating and a bit sickening at times. Film’s like this highlight how far as a society we have come, but also how much further we have to go.

I found the romance between Oyelowo and Pike to be entirely believable, they had a strong chemistry that carried throughout the film. Both actors gave incredibly good performance with Oyelowo’s maybe taking the cake. The part when he is speaking to his people and trying to convince them why he has brought an English woman to be there Queen and he has tears rolling down his face is nothing short of powerful.

My one complaint of the film would be that it has pacing issues, as is often the case with biographical film, I understand that it has a lot of history to tell as it doesn’t want to leave anything out, but it feels a lot longer than 111 minutes.

Overall, a strong film that you need to watch. The love on display is compelling and proves that if we are ever to overcome hate we must all embrace the love we have for each other.

Pros.

Believable chemistry

David Oyelowo

Rosamund Pike

Powerful and effecting

Cons.

It feels much longer than it actually is

4/5

Reviewed by Luke

Patriots Day: A Sombre Moment In American History

Patriots Day is a true story based crime drama film directed by Peter Berg based on the Boston Marathon Bombing and the ensuing man hunt for the suspects.

I do enjoy a trashy Wahlberg action film, but I have to say I was unprepared for this. I went into this film expecting it to be very loud and to follow Mark Wahlberg’s Tommy Saunders as he beats up various groups of people trying to find out who did it. This is not that. It is a surprisingly sombre affair, wherein Marky Mark actually shows some strong drama chops and makes you feel something.

I am not going to lie to you as the film’s closing credits were rolling I had a fair few tears in my eyes.

I liked the fact that the film seemed to be respectful of the events that happened, it did not try and turn it into a bit of raar raar patriotism, it simply tried to stick to the events as they happened and showed the bravery of those on the ground; it seemed primarily interested in doing right by the victims and that I can respect.

It was interesting to see Alex Wolff playing a straight up evil monster here, as up until this point he hasn’t really branched out into that sort of performance before. I found him to be quite menacing.

Overall, I appreciate the way Berg and others chose to tell this story, it felt impactful and respectful and Wahlberg showed us all that he can act.

Pros.

Mark Wahlberg

Handles the subject matter with respect

It was impactful

Alex Wolff

Cons.

It does feel a little busy and like it is trying to cover too many people’s stories.

4.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

Johnny English Strikes Again: Emma Thompson Is The Prime Minster We Never Knew We Needed

Johnny English Strikes Again is a British spy comedy film directed by David Kerr. The plot sees English (Rowan Atkinson), come out of retirement to save the world when all of M17’s current operatives become known to the public therefore rendering them inefficient as spies.

I will give this film some props for feeling more like a continuation of the first film rather than a retread of it, like the second film. I thought bringing back Bough (Ben Miller), was an inspired move as the two have great chemistry together.

The comedy here has the added dimension of having Johnny be at odds with the modern world and not understanding technology, which is funny briefly for the first ten minutes or so. However, once again I don’t find the rather obvious slapstick comedy funny and I find that it pushes the film to be more and more like Mr Bean.

I find the idea of an evil tech CEO as the baddie a touch predictable at this point, it has been done to death and this does nothing new with it. We need to move away from these sort of cliches.

I enjoyed seeing Emma Thompson as the Prime Minster and whenever she was on screen I found myself laughing and enjoying the film that bit more. She is definitely the highlight of the film.

Overall, a step forward after Reborn, but even still it is far too repetitive and clichéd, also the slapstick humour is getting actively worse film on film.

Pros.

Bringing back Bough

Emma Thompson

Johnny Vs. Tech is mildly funny

Cons.

The evil tech CEO is cliché

The slapstick is overused

It doesn’t justify its existence

3/5

Reviewed by Luke

The Croods: Not The Nicolas Cage We Needed, Nor The One We Deserved

The Croods is an animated fantasy family film directed by Kirk DeMicco and Chris Sanders. The plot follows a family as their way of life is threatened and they come to realise that the only way to survive is to adapt. Also it is set during the prehistoric era.

The animation models on this one are bad, there is something a bit too uncanny about them that is off putting, not to mention the fact that Eep (Emma Stone), is designed in quite a sexual way, which as we are never quite sure her age is deeply troubling.

I feel like I have seen this film hundreds of times before, yes maybe not set in cave men times, but a very similar story arc. I understand that Hollywood is a creatively bankrupt place but come on. All of the twists and turns are painfully obvious, and everything is sign posted from the start of the film. Oh the father Grug (Nicolas Cage), doesn’t like change, I wonder what intricate arc they will give him, oh he just learns to embrace change. The growth.

The voice cast are all very eh, I don’t think any of them are really trying. It seems to be a for the money venture through and through, which is upsetting as the idea of a Nicolas Cage fronted animated film was something that really did intrigue me.

Overall, boring, bland and been there done that, the animation is creepy and off putting as well, so give this one a miss.

Pros.

It is watchable

Cons.

There is nothing new about it

The voice cast are wasted

The plot is blindingly obvious

The animation is awful and weirdly sexual

1/5

Reviewed by Luke

Kill Me Three Times: Simon Pegg Makes A Surprisingly Likeable Cold Blooded Killer

Kill Me Three Times is a dark comedy film directed by Kriv Stenders. The plot follows Alice (Alice Braga), a young bartender who is caught cheating on her gangster boyfriend by infamous hitman Charlie Wolfe (Simon Pegg), who is then tasked with killing her. There is also a side story of a couple who is trying to fake one of their deaths to win big on an insurance claim.

Usually, I don’t care for films that have narrative that jump here there and everywhere and that have multiple different narratives happening side by side, but here I think it works well. Each time we are shown the same events we are given that bit more detail which really helps you sink into the world and become immersed.

Simon Pegg plays the likeable though cold villain very well, I have enjoyed seeing Pegg take these villainous turns recently in his career as I think he can have a real maliciousness when used correctly. Here is an example of that despite the comical appearance and bumbling, to a degree, nature he is still incredibly threatening and intimidating.

I found the film to be quite well written. There were no groanable lines and all of the characters felt fully developed and you connected with them, which is pretty much everything you want from a well written script.

Overall, a very amusing and intriguing dark comedy that has surprising depth to it.

Pros.

The separate timelines

Simon Pegg

All of the characters felt real and well developed

The dark sense of humour

Cons.

Maybe a bit too much going on.

4/5

Reviewed by Luke

Scooby Doo And The Cyber Chase: Too Meta?

Scooby Doo And The Cyber Chase is a family mystery film directed by Jim Stenstrum. The plot sees Scooby (Scott Innes), and the Gang be sent into cyberspace to defeat an evil virus. The have to progress through various levels that harken back to their classic monsters, defeating each along the way.

I enjoyed the references to the classic series that are all over this film, to me in the final level when they brought back the various villains from the past it was nothing short of a cheer worthy moment. I also enjoyed the tongue in check metaness of having Scooby and co go into a videogame based on them. As we have covered before in my Scooby Doo reviews I am a sucker for metaness.

However, I think very much like Aliens Invade this film does not really understand what a Scooby Doo adventure is and tires to be something else, differing from the formula drastically; maybe too much. Although, the ending that I have mentioned does fix this issue.

I think for once it is not super obvious who the villain is, which is nice to see from one of these films. I understand that they are primarily for kids, but they are usually so damn obvious.

Overall, though this film does lose sight of what a Scooby Doo film is being maybe too meta, it does bring it full circle in a satisfying fan pleasing kind of way with references to the classic series, and the mystery isn’t obvious which I appreciated.

Pros.

The call backs

The metaness

Not an obvious mystery

Cons.

Maybe too much metaness

It drags and has pacing issues

The levels other than the final one with the classic monsters do nothing for me

3.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

The Broken Hearts Gallery: A Love Story For The Hoarders

The Broken Hearts Gallery is a romantic comedy film directed by Natalie Krinsky. The plot sees recently dumped Lucy (Geraldine Viswanathan), open up an art exhibit dedicated to all the items that people still have of their exes; post breakup. She hopes by doing this she can get some form of closure from her own breakup as well as help others find the same.

Forget Tenet, forget The New Mutants, this is the film cinemas need to get people to come back. There is something so communal about this film, it is something that we can all relate to, it is so personable that it is hard to not form some sort of attachment to it.

Yes, some of the lines are cringe (they name the film title in the dialogue multiples times), and they feel the need to throw in some hot topics here and there to prove that they’re trendy. However, in spite of these two things I found myself really getting into this film.

The comedy is strong, and it genuinely had me laughing quite a few times, I found Viswanathan to be a really likeable lead and easily the best thing about the film. The romantic chemistry between the leads is strong and believable and will drive you to finish the film to see how things end up.

Overall, this is just a warm feel good film, that is something I needed right now, and I am sure a lot of you reading this do too. It is not going to be the best film you’ll see all year, but it is a fun hour and a half and that is enough.

Pros.

The heart

The humour

Warm and wholesome

Very personable and relatable

Cons.

A few cringe lines throughout

4.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

Scooby Doo On Zombie Island: A Taste Of Southern Hospitality

Scooby Doo on Zombie Island is an animated family mystery film directed by Hiroshi Aoyama, Kazumi Fukushima, and Jim Stenstrum. The plot see the Gang reunite after their mysteries have seemingly come to and end and each member has gone their separate ways. They travel to New Orleans to film a Most Haunted esque segment for Daphne’s (Mary Kay Bergman’s) new TV job.

This is the film that really kicked started the new era of direct to video Scooby Doo movies and is remembered by more than a few as the best amongst said films. Personally, I am more of a Witch’s Ghost person, but that is just me being a sucker for the ever-charming Tim Curry.

I enjoyed the meta feel of this film, much like Pirates Ahoy this film talked about the Scooby Doo franchise as a whole during the film in a very telling way, whilst keeping it in universe. I thought the writing in this regard was smart and well done.

I enjoyed the fact that this film feels like effort has been put into it, a sad thing to state I know, by that I mean there were songs created specifically for the movie, and the story felt like the result of careful planning and more crucially, a great deal of thought.

Overall, this is definitely one of the best animated Scooby Doo films, the love it has for the franchise is clear to see and it has many memorable moments.

Pros.

The metaness

The songs

The considered approach to why the gang have to reunite

It feels like it moves the story forward, rather than just being another throw away adventure

Cons.

It has some pacing issues

The reveal is obvious

4/5

Reviewed by Luke