iCarly: iHate Carly

3/5

Written by Luke Barnes

So by popular demand I will now be covering the new iCarly revival weekly. I thought this episode was nowhere near as strong as the first episode in a lot of ways, the cracks are starting to show.

Cosgrove and Trainor are still a delight, but the humour is getting weaker and weaker. I said in my previous review that the laugh track was not helping the show, and this only gets worse here. Characters will simply say a word and the canned laughter will be used- they aren’t even trying to be funny most of the time.

Moreover, the message of the episode was flawed. Carly forgives and eventually starts dating a guy that used to cyber bully her, but it is okay because he has reformed and is now a nice person: that on its own would be a fine episode arc. However, where it gets troublesome is that Carly forgives him for his troll-like origins, but then says he gives her ‘the ich’ when he starts doing spoken word poetry- really.

I think in this episode the writing for Carly is slightly off as you don’t really warm to her, she seems self-righteous and judgemental and worst of all deeply self-involved, which starts to make her a character you want to avoid. Personally I found the Spencer side story much better and more enjoyable.

Overall, Carly is heading down a path towards unlikability, I hope the show veers away from this.

Pros.

The Spencer side story

A few good jokes

The side characters

Cons.

The concept of ‘the ich’

The ending of the episode

Pros.

The action

The cinematography

Cons.

The dead zombie baby

The runtime and staggering pacing issues

It is repetitive

None of the characters are allowed to be interesting

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Father Of The Bride Part II: Slightly Less Sociopathic

2.5/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Whilst I gave the first Father Of The Bride film a hard time I do think this is marginally better. Mostly this is allowing to the fact that this film feels less whiney and cynical, and Steve Martin’s lead actually feels like a loving family man rather than a sociopath who wants to control everyone in his life.

In that regard I think the film does a lot better to make you feel sympathetic towards Martin’s character and to warm to him. There is a scene near the end when Martin is waiting outside the room as his wife gives birth worrying for her and their babies’ safety and we feel for him, this is a million miles away from the self-obsessed ego maniac in the first film that moaned about being comfortably off and living in a large house.

The stereotypes and accents are still an issue with the film’s comedy, and no they don’t age well as you can imagine. I found the film more emotionally feel good then I did funny, I had several moments where the film made me feel warm inside and I had no moments where the film made me laugh- or even really smile.

Overall, it is a shame as Martin is trying but sadly these films just aren’t very funny, to me at least.

Pros.

Less obnoxious

A few heart-warming moments

Cons.

It is not funny

The accents and the stereotypes

The plot makes very little sense

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Boys From County Hell: Only Heroes Get Barred From Their Local Pubs

4/5

Written by Luke Barnes

I found this film to be surprisingly good. I went in with very average expectations and found myself pleased with what I was offered.

Firstly I appreciated that this film differed from standard vampire lore, going so far as to show how certain tropes of the sub-genre don’t work in this world. I thought that by doing this the film felt original and refreshing, I also enjoyed the uniquely Irish feeling to the film and would like to see more horror comedies or even straight horrors come from the Country.

Furthermore, the character interactions and relationships are well done and actually deeper than they first appear. The father- son relationship, the broken friendship, etc all of these emotional arcs are explored and given a satisfying conclusion by the end of the film and I tip my hat to the filmmakers for that.

In terms of horror comedy balance I would say the film has instances of both, but ultimately leans more into the comedy. The comedy I found to be a mixed bag, and the main issue with the film as there are a few scenes that will make you laugh but for the most part the jokes don’t work; but as I often say comedy is subjective- almost a personal catchphrase at this point.

Overall, I felt something of an early Edgar Wright here- need I say more?

Pros.

Strong character works/ arc

A few funny scenes

The unique twist on vampires

Irish representation within the horror genre

Cons.

It is not particularly scary.

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Dream Horse: A Questionable Welsh Accent

3/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Many have taken issue with Toni Collette’s Welsh accent in this film, but after hearing it, it’s not as bad as I was expecting though I can’t really speak to the matter as I am not Welsh but have lived in the area in the past.

This followed a similar film to a lot of other feel good animal films, it certainly wins no points for originality, they raise the horse, it brings the community together, it proves to be a winner, oh no the horse is injured, its okay in the end: beat for beat you can see where it is going.

The film for the most part is functional as a feel good film, that is to say it made me feel good, however, I would say it has pacing problems that make it less pleasing and more irritating as it belabours the point in a few sections.

Overall, this film is very much what is says on the tin, your early guesses for what the film will be like based on the trailers and other promo materials will be pretty much right- this film is not surprising. However, the question is does it need to be? As though predictable there is also something comforting about this film.

Pros.

It is feel good

It is nice to see some Welsh representation within wider British Cinema, even if most of the actors cast are not actually Welsh

You become attached to the horse

Cons.

It is bloated

It is deeply obvious and predictable

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Drag Me To Hell: Watch Out For Vomiting Corpses At Your Next Wake

3/5

Written by Luke Barnes

I remember watching this years ago and at the time thinking it to be quite frightening, however, upon watching it again now it really isn’t, and if anything the more overt comedy elements go out of their way to take away any genuine fear from the proceedings.

Likewise the use of practical effects and gross out scenes become a double edged sword within the film, as they both add an element of realness and grimness to the film which does enhance it to a degree, but also often look quite bad by modern standards almost to a humorous degree. Scenes such as when the lead goes to the wake and has the corpse leak fluid into her mouth a few times are funny, however this takes away from the threat and fear of the film.

I have written about this several times, the key to creating a good comedy horror film is to allow the film to be both scary and funny throughout the film without favouring one over the other. The issue here is that clearly Raimi has favoured the comedy over the horror.

I think the premise of the film is strong, if a little reliant on outdated cliches, and the idea of being dragged to hell in a number of days is a terrifying concept. I found it evoking of films like The Ring wherein our protagonist has to desperately hunt down a mystery way to free themselves from the situation often for it not to work out the way they hoped, highlighting the futility of the struggle: the ending of this film is very reflective of this concept.

Overall, Raimi has an interesting premise here but loses any real scares to indulge in a juvenile sense of humour.

Pros.

The concept

The ending

The performances

Cons.

The practical effects are horribly dated

The comedy

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iCarly: iStart Over

4/5

Written by Luke Barnes

I don’t know if I’ll be covering this series regularly, but I wanted to review the first episode for old times sake. iCarly and Drake and Josh were a huge part of my childhood growing up, I watched the hell out of each time and time again, so when I heard that iCarly was coming back for a revival series I knew I had to check it out.

I truly do think that the adult orientated approach to this series is a stroke of genius, the audience has grown up with Carly and we like her have very different trails and tribulations then we did when we first watched the series. Though the series has a bit more adult humour I would still say it was child friendly as there is nothing that unsuitable there.

Moreover, I think the knowing self-aware aspects to the series really help to enhance it and add to that link between those on screen and us watching. There were no actual forth wall breaks, at least not in this first episode, but there were a number of winks to the camera so to speak and each time it made me smile.

Miranda Cosgrove anchors the series masterfully, and it is nice to see her back centre stage again. Likewise Jerry Trainor as Spencer is also still excellent and has a nice back and forth with Cosgrove and the rest of the cast. Though Jennette McCurdy’s absence is felt, Cosgrove and the rest of the cast do such a good job that it makes up for it.

Overall, so far a good and well done revival series.

Pros.

Cosgrove

Trainor

The self-awareness

The adult tone

Cons.

The studio audience canned laughter is distracting

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The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard: Ryan Reynolds Needs To Move On From Deadpool, This Is An Intervention

1.5/5

Written by Luke Barnes

I think the world’s love affair with Ryan Reynolds might be coming to and end. There was a time, when Reynolds was popping up in every film with his Deadpool esque zany comedy- that got old quick. Nowhere is that more true than in this film.

The Hitman’s Bodyguard is a perfectly fine film, not spectacular in anyway, really quite forgettable: it did not need a sequel. Yet for some reason the same jokes and cliches are forced back out of the woodwork again for this film. We get it Reynold’s character doesn’t like confrontation and is very into safety and Samuel Jackson’s character is the opposite, we get it. Yet the film feels like it needs to repeat this over and over again, to make matters worse it thinks this is funny.

Where this film differs from its predecessor is its focus on the wife, hence the name. Salma Hayek’s Sonya is the very loud wife of Samuel L Jackson’s Hitman, and though in the first film she had a few breakthrough moments here she is quickly rendered nothing more than a one note caricature. Sonya is probably the least annoying of the main three characters though she only has a few moments where she is anywhere near likeable. This is by no means a fault on Hayek’s acting, but rather a script that thinks yelling loudly in Spanish is both badass and hilarious at the same time; sidenote it is neither.

To return back to my earlier points about Reynolds, he really needs to come up with something fresh as he can’t keep riding the snarky Deadpool coat tails forever, this film is proof of that.

Overall, definitely not worth going back to the cinema for this film is made for the bargain bin.

Pros.

Salma Hayek has a few moments of good acting that connect

The cringe humour made me laugh a good few times, though I don’t think it was deliberate on the film’s part.

Cons.

It is loud in the worst sense of the word

It is not funny at all

It is incredibly poorly written

It is repetitive

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The Brothers Bloom: Just Like Wes Anderson Without Any Of The Charm.

2/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Rian Johnson is such a hit or miss filmmaker, for every Last Jedi you have a Looper, the quality of his films is unpredictable: sadly this was not one of his stronger efforts.

Firstly I did not like the humour of the film it seemed dumb and annoying to me, trying far too hard to be kitschy and oddball. The best way I can describe this is to take the stylings, writing and wit of Wes Anderson and gut the emotional heart of it, take out any real meaning and mash it back together again. This film felt like a poor rip off of both the previously mentioned Anderson as well as the Coen Brothers.

The one thing I did enjoy about the film, and that I saw as the saving grace was Adrien Brody. Brody brought his usual outsider charm to the role and managed to deliver and memorable performance, whilst also having great on-screen chemistry with Rachel Weisz; the two should definitely do more films together. Sadly, the other of the titular brothers played by Mark Ruffalo was far less likeable and was instead annoying for most of the film, this is most likely due to the fact he was often instigating the bad comedy.

Overall, I am glad that Johnson has moved away from this kind of film.

Pros.

Brody

Weisz

Cons

Ruffalo

The comedy

It feels like a rip off of better films

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Another Round/ Druk: Mads Mikkelsen Can Dance

5/5

Written by Luke Barnes

As I said recently in a tweet Mads Mikkelsen is a treasure. If you were not on the Mikkelsen train before, now you are.

There is something so fun and emotionally impactful about this film, yes dark things happen, but there is such an underlying sense of optimism to it that you can’t leave feeling anything other than happy. Honestly, this film made me feel better than any film has in a long time whilst watching it, and it has inspired me to watch more of Vinterberg’s work.

I thought the concept was fascinating, the idea of improving your life by keeping your blood alcohol content above a certain limit throughout the day is genius and is also executed incredibly well. Moreover, this is a beautiful film to look at, this can been seen especially with the final dance sequence that is by far the highlight of the film.

Though I wouldn’t call it a comedy, I thought this film had a number of funny moments scattered in throughout, and it made me smile consistently; it is probably more of a dramady.

Overall, one of the best films I have seen in a long time.

Pros.

The hopefulness

The final dance sequence

Mads Mikkelsen

The premise

The cinematography

Cons.

None

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Father Of The Bride: Complaining About Having Money

2/5

Written by Luke Barnes

I have heard a lot of people talk about this film over the years, it has achieved ‘classic’ status in some people’s eyes. However, I am not one of them.

Firstly, I did not find it funny to hear Steve Martin’s character complain about money when he is clearly very well off, not only that but we the audience are expected to feel sorry for him when his future son in law’s parents have more money than him. The privilege is staggering. For many of us owning a house like the one Martin’s character has would be a proud moment in our lives, something we dream towards, however here it is a source of shame…

Despite being a Steve Martin fan, I thought the comedy here was a little flat; comedy is subjective of course. I found myself laughing a few times, but more often than not the jokes didn’t land. I thought the whole bit about Martin Short’s character having a hard to understand accent was particularly unfunny and I was left waiting for some hidden moment of comedic brilliance when I would finally ‘get it’ yet that never came.

Overall, as far as romantic comedies go it is passable, it lacks both the heart and soul of My Big Fat Greek Wedding and the family comedy of Meet The Parents, but it will do in a pinch.

Pros.

A few funny jokes

Marin

Cons.

A lot of the jokes don’t work

The clear privilege and the out of touch nature

The ending

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