Dungeons and Dragons Honor Amongst Thieves: Rolling Hard For Charisma

Summary

A motley crew of thieves, sorcerers and resistance fighters set out on a quest to steal a magical artifact that has the power to resurrect the dead and reunite one of the band with his dead wife.

I enjoyed this film more than I thought I would. I will admit here relatively up front that I am fairly inexperienced when it comes to Dungeons and Dragons and the wider lore of the game, I have played a few sessions of it in my time but I have never been overly into it. So that said I was coming into this world fairly fresh.

I thought that the cast of characters we meet are all fairly charming, Michelle Rodriguez and Justice Smith really shine in their roles as a fearless warrior and a hapless sorcerer, but are probably out pipped by Chris Pine as the master planner extraordinaire. I bought into their motivations and thought that they nicely engaged me over the course of the film’s runtime, so much so that if there were to be a sequel I would say they should return.

The real strength of this film is its comedy, which for the most part really did land for me. Yes, there were one or two jokes that didn’t land or that were out and out bad but for the most part this film was fairly funny. First impressions may suggest that this film is more of an action and adventure epic in the same vein as a Pirates Of The Caribbean, but I would argue that in actuality this film is far more of a comedy then anything else.

Overall, funny and charming, only held back by a weak villain and pacing issues.

3.5/5

Pros.

Pine, Rodriguez and Smith

It has charm, heart and laughs

You engage with the character and buy their motivation

It is fun

Cons.

It has pacing issues

The villain is weak and forgettable

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The Hard Life And Times Of Clownie Volume 1: The Struggles After Clown College

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Clownie finally gets a feature.

So this film is the full adaption of the Hey Bro short I reviewed a while back and I have to say in a lot of ways this film is a step up. Everything that was enjoyable about the original short is here in spades and the film does justify its need for a longer runtime.

I liked that we got to explore the characters a lot more and learn more about their lives. I think the added character work added a nice new dimension to the world of the film and made me care more about these characters. As I was watching I found myself quite often relating to the characters I think they certainly feel more realised here and that is very much a good thing.

The one area in which I would criticise this film, however, is in terms of its pacing. I thought that the second act was overly long and at times felt like it was padding for time. This is a shame as the first and third act both move along at a nice place and are very enjoyable, it is just the slow down in the middle that hampers my enjoyment of the feature more broadly.

Overall, a good expansion, but the slow second act really bogs it down.

4/5

Pros.

The character work

Expanding the world

It justifies its existence

Relatable

Cons.

A slow second act

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Polite Society: Martial Arts And Uncomfortable Relationships

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A wannbe stuntwoman, played by Priya Kansara, becomes convinced her sister, played by Ritu Arya, is marrying a baddie.

In a sense I really wanted to connect with this film as I often do try to give British films the benefit of the doubt, but in all honesty this film just didn’t jive with me.

I think there are certainly some entertaining parts to it, and the fight scenes are impressive for what they are but I do think in the end the issues outweigh the positives.

The main issue I had with this film is that tonally it is two separate films. The first half is much more of a comedy about a girl struggling to accept that her sister is moving on with her life and then the second half is full of vaguely incestuous clones and kidnapping scenes, they don’t align at any point and at others feels very much at odds with one another.

To make matters worse the lead character isn’t likeable. Throughout most of the film the character comes off as incredibly possessive towards her sister, and thinks that it is okay for her to interfere and mess with her life doing worse and worse things to try and get the outcome she wants. The film justifies this in the end by having her being proven right to be so involved in her sister’s life, but throughout the film she just comes across as a busy body.

Moreover, I don’t know if it is just how I red it but there is a subtext to this film that is quite depressing and sad. In a sense the second half of the film could be read as a metaphor for mental illness and the sister fully falling into delusion, as the film likes to remind us she has an overactive imagination. In this sense the ending then develops something of an uncanny and almost unsettling quality but perhaps that was just how I made sense of the two drastically different tones within the film.

Overall, the tone of this film was all wrong and the main character was unlikeable.

2.5/5

Pros.

The fight scenes were good

It was nice to see a British film in the multiplex

It has a charm to it.

Cons.

It has pacing issues

It is tonally a mess

The main character has a God complex

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Beef: Season One Overview

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Two random strangers, played by Steven Yeun and Ali Wong, get into a road rage incident that changes their lives forever.

I think this is one of the best shows Netflix has made in years. Why can’t we get more like this and less angsty teen shows that get cancelled after one season?

The show works so well as a series of escalations wherein each episode tops the drama of the last, and does so in a way that both makes sense and feels organic. At no point in this series did I think it strayed into the territory of the unbelievable.

Adding to this Wong and Yeun both have really great chemistry together and deliver fantastic performances. I particularly liked Wong’s performance and how it comments on depression and past trauma and shame, speaking off the monster that speaks to her as a little girl in one of the last few episodes is genuinely quite terrifying. It was clear to me from the off that the show was going to end up with Wong and Yeun’s characters getting together and in a sense it did that, but it just works as they are so good together.

Moreover, some of the more abstract elements of the show such as the previously mentioned monster and the crows that talk to one another in the final episode really add a nice different dimension to the realism of the rest of the show and perfectly juxtapose it.

Overall, if you haven’t already seen it you should binge this show the next time you have time to spare.

4.5/5

Pros.

Wong

Yeun

The drama and the escalation

The fun abstract elements

The ending

Cons.

The pace of the show is a little off and could be cut down by an episode which would also help to reduce the Netflix bloat.

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Renfield: The Role Nicolas Cage Was Born To Play

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Renfield, played by Nicolas Hoult, must do battle with both his toxic boss Dracula, played by Nicolas Cage, as well as with local mobsters.

I liked this film for the goofy fun ride it was. I appreciated the focus on Renfield and Dracula’s relationship and the ins and outs of it. I thought framing the whole thing through this idea of unhealthy co-dependent relationships was both funny and also able to generate some real insights. I have never really thought of the Dracula Renfield relationship like that before but I suppose that I haven’t really thought about it at all.

Moreover, both Cage and Hoult are terrific, Cage is as hammy and as campy as you would want him to be, he is very much playing the Bela Lugosi Dracula and that comes across in the costume design as well. Whereas Hoult really turns Renfield into a multi-layered character that you end up caring about, being both sympathetic but also heroic in equal measures. I must say however, thought I like Awkwafina in other things I thought she was miscast here. I say this because she has terrible chemistry with Hoult which would be less noticeable if the film was trying to ship them off into a relationship for most of their screen time together. Moreover, her being the straight man to all the on screen silliness just doesn’t work, what we want is for her to be reacting more to the craziness as her reactions could then be a stand-in for the audience, but instead she just keeps being stoic.

Furthermore, I don’t know how I feel about the films action. It is a horror comedy film and not an action film, yet the film does feature a lot of Wick esque fight sequences which honestly get a little tried after a while. Worse yet with the whole cockroach power up mechanic the fights end up feeling like generic superhero battles and then become lost in that sea of generic special effects. However, I do like how gory the confrontations get that makes for some good gross out moments and gags.

Overall, fun and with a good message of being your own person, but Awkwafina is sorely miscast.

4/5

Pros.

Hoult

Cage

The gore

The message about relationships

Cons.

Awkwafina is miscast

The action becomes boring after a while

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Paradise PD, Was A Man Killing Cats Ever Funny?

Written by Luke Barnes

I want to use this piece to talk about the latest season of Paradise PD and the idea of mean spirited humour.

I want to open this up by saying humour is totally subjective so what works or doesn’t work for me might work or not work for you, I am not saying my opinions on what is and isn’t funny are definitive this is simply an opinion piece.

Recently I sat down to watch the most recent season of Paradise PD on Netflix after having watched all of the previous seasons, however, unlike with those seasons I was barely able to make it more than one episode into the new season.

Now why was that? Well though the show has always had mean humour in a similar vein to something like Family Guy and I found with this most recent season that all the characters are just so unlikeable and hateable that I find it hard to watch. There is no reason to watch something when you hate every single one of the characters, is there?

Worse yet in a lot of the cases I find that the characters are hateful for no other reason than to be edgy. That complaint has been levelled against this show since day one and for the most part I ignored it, but now it is too much to ignore, this show is edgy for the sake of it and rather than be cool as the creators probably want it to be it just feels try hardy. Look at a recent adult animation like Little Demon it had a lot of gross out gags and edgy humour but it also had an engaging story, deeper themes and characters you didn’t hate. It didn’t have the character living in the anus of an inbred baby for a joke.

I don’t know dear reader, I don’t know whether this season is any worse than the last few but I do know that it was finally the time wherein I saw the worse side of this show and stopped watching. Maybe I have changed or maybe it is simply the fact that watching a man kill cats and then do a musical number with them isn’t funny.

Hopefully Netflix cancels this show soon.

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Friday: Working For The Weekend

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Craig, played by Ice Cube, and Smokey, played by Chris Tucker, run into trouble when they get on the wrong side of their local drug dealer.

I know a lot of people really like this film, and I have been meaning to watch it for some time. After watching it I can see the appeal, the film is quite effortlessly funny and has characters that both make you laugh and smile but also that you can relate to. Everyone has known someone like these guys before, and as such the experience of watching this film feels like spending time with your friends.

There are also quite a number of funny and well developed side characters that helped the world to feel full and lived in. There is constantly something funny going on and that helps the film to feel lively which helps to stop any pacing issues. In terms of wider narrative I thought the film was fine, yes the story has been done before and since, but the laughs and the characters more than make up for the overly familiar story and give you a reason to stick with it.

Overall, a lot of fun.

4/5

Pros.

Cube

Tucker

The side characters and world

It is very funny

Cons.

The story is a little familiar

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The Other Woman: This Is Why Cameron Diaz Needed To Retire

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A pair of women, played by Cameron Diaz and Leslie Maan, find out that they have been cheated on and so team up to try and take down their ex, played by Nikolaj Coster-Waldau.

When considering films like this you can see why Cameron Diaz retired. If her return in years to come leads to more films like this being made than the landscape as a whole will be a worse place for it.

There was nothing of any charm of warmth about this film. If anything there were lines so unpleasant and off putting that I almost turned it off. Take if you will a scene in which Diaz’s character is talking to her assistant, played by a robotic Nicki Minaj, wherein they talk about there being no issue with Diaz sleeping with married men so long as she can ‘take them’. Now, before you say it, yes this attitude has been in many male driven rom-coms before so isn’t anything new, and this is at the start of the film wherein the character still needs to work on themselves, however, whether it was a man or a woman saying this it is still a dick move. The whole conversation, which is fairly early on, doesn’t do anything to make you like Diaz’s character really quite the opposite.

Moreover, the film tries to cut a feminist silhouette of having the women realising they should be helping and uplifting each other rather than fighting over a man, which is a good message. Although it is quickly undercut as Diaz’s character just begins a new romance, which then makes the idea of her not needing a man to be happy, which the film really tries to run with, feeling hollow. I think the film would have been better if after defeating the ex Diaz’s character ended the film single but open to the idea of trusting a man again. That would feel more true to me at least.

Overall, this film wasn’t enjoyable to watch at all and at times felt like it was forcing my hand to the off button, and I like rom-coms.

0/5

Pros.

None

Con.

Diaz is unlikeable

It is contrived and overly familiar

It tires to land a feminist message but is way off course

The ending contrasts the whole point of the film

Nicki Minaj can’t act and shouldn’t be given any roles in the future.

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Rye Lane: Finding Love In Modern Britain

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Two recently dumped individuals, played by Vivian Oparah and David Jonsson, meet randomly one day and find that they have a connection.

This isn’t a new film, the idea has been done in hundreds of films before especially within British rom-coms. However what this film does is update some of the older tired cliches and to produce something modern to a reasonable effect.

I don’t think this film reinvents the form but it is a nice wholesome watch. Jonsson and Oparah have great chemistry and both are charming in different ways. The way their characters interact with each other on screen instantly makes you root for them and want them to be together, this is helped by the fact that for once the relationship shown to us in a rom-com doesn’t seem incredibly toxic.

I also liked some of the more surreal shot choices and story telling frames this film used, it was a nice break from the genre but also from within the film itself it helped to shake things up and keep them fresh,

My highlight of the film was the Colin Firth cameo as the burrito chef, which I thought was hilarious and well placed. It was nice to see a genre mainstay like Firth show up for a film like this and give his blessing to a new generation, it rooted the film so easily within this very British tradition and created an unforgettable moment.

Overall, a nice happy watch but not one that will blow you away.

3.5/5

Pros.

The leads have good chemistry

It is fun

It makes you care about the characters

The Colin Firth cameo

Cons.

It is very familiar

The conflict towards the end of the film feels forced in rather than organic to the story

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Pinball The Man Who Saved The Game: An Unexpected Delight

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Telling the story of the man who overturned New York City’s ban on pinball.

I thought this was a tremendously fun film. I personally don’t really care at all about pinball, but this film had me rooting for the ban to be overturned. It is hard to put it into words but there is something special and winning about this film, it managed to play with my heart in a way I wasn’t expecting it to whilst also making me laugh every step of the way.

On the subject of comedy, I particularly enjoyed the meta jokes wherein the walls of the film where broken down and the narrator of the tale came in and addressed us directly. There was a good number of funny lines delivered by Mr Sharp, played by Dennis Boutsikaris, as he clashed with the wider team behind the scenes.

However, what I will say was the films strongest element was the story of Roger, played by Mike Faist [and playing within the narrative of the film a young version of Mr Sharp], and his relationship with Ellen, played by Crystal Reed, and her son, played by Christopher Convery. I think this is one of the best romantic pairings in a film I have seen in a long time and that both Faist and Reed have great chemistry together and that this is what anchors the film.

Overall, an unexpected treat which does what Tetris tried to do but bettered it.

4/5

Pros.

Faist

Boutsikaris

Reed

The humour and the heart

Cons.

It was a little rushed in places

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