Festen/ The Celebration: The Family Reunion From Hell

4/5

Written by Luke Barnes

This film will not be to everyone’s taste, it’s sense of humour is incredibly dark, and some may even find it in bad taste: I however did not.

This is such a bizarre film tonally as you have these incredibly distressing scenes, of suicide and child abuse, cut with other far lighter and almost comedic scenes: both are existing along side the other and both have equal importance. Whilst one would assume this would not work and the two types of scenes would clash horribly, they actually don’t instead working well and nicely complimenting each other.

I found moments in this film to be funny, though the jokes were morbid and will almost certainly not be to everyone’s taste, as I often say comedy is subjective.

What I appreciate the most about this film is how it handles the abuse storyline; it treats it with sombre reverence and shows the often too common reaction to it; disbelief. I thought that the ending of the film where these matters were forced to a head felt strongly emotional and satisfying. Though I found myself depressed by the ending, I would not change it.

Overall, a bizarre film in a lot of ways but one that needs to be seen and experienced.

Pros.

The emotions

The bizarre meshing of dark and light

The dark comedy elements

The ending

Cons.

Some will find it very hard to watch

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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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Thor: Natalie Portman’s Second On Screen Stilted Relationship

3.5/5

Written by Luke Barnes

I am seemingly one of the few people that actually seem to like the first Thor film. I don’t mind the Shakespeare esque dialogue, or the forced romance between Hemsworth and Portman where both look like they hate each other; instead I actually enjoy it.

Firstly yes it is widely known and widely mocked that the chemistry between Chris Hemsworth and Natalie Portman was not there during this film, however, I actually quite like them together on screen as a pair I think they work well together and could have been a lot more. Maybe Thor 4 can fix it.

I also think though not as zany as in his more recent appearances Thor is still a very likeable lead character and Hemsworth is very charismatic. I like the unworthy arc and the fish out of water style comedy, both work for me. Moreover, I appreciate the family drama between Thor, Odin and Loki I think it works well and makes for one of the best endings in the MCU. Try and tell me watching Loki float away into the void didn’t make you sad.

I also think that Lady Sif and the Warriors Three have huge potential in this film, sadly Marvel seems content on doing nothing with them. What a waste.

Overall, one of the better early MCU films that often gets overlooked in favor of Ragnarök and though I love Taika Waititi as much as the next guy, this film has a lot of stuff going for it as well.

Pros.

Hemsworth

Portman

Sif and The Warriors Three

Cons.

Darcy

A slow start

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Minions: This Is Why Children Are Dumb

1.5/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Who would have guessed that the vaguely racist lead of the Despicable Me films is the glue that is holding it all together. Yikes.

The Minions were the obvious breakout stars of the Despicable Me franchise however, what works in small doses peppered in around a wider story does not translate into being able to anchor their own film.

I found this film to be far more simplistic and childish than the previous films, which primarily aimed at kids, had enough depth and adult jokes to make both ages groups feel like they were getting something out of the film. This time here it is painfully dumb in humour and in writing, probably because the creatives thought ‘kids won’t know it’s bad’.

Moreover, the central story is so convoluted and all over the place that by the time you get to Sandra Bullock’s evil villain trying to take over from the Queen Of England, for reasons you are so lost and confused that you can’t properly regain an understanding of, and worse you don’t want to.

If I had to describe this film in a word it would be loud. It is loud and bright and there are a lot of things all happening at once to pander to the ever diminishing attention spans of children.

Overall, a definite low point for the franchise clearly brought out to try and get more milk out of the cow, but this milk is bad.

Pros.

It is watchable

The Minions are likeable

Cons.

It is dumb

It isn’t funny

It is hard to tell what is going on

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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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Blackstock Boneyard: Back To Bore You To Death

2.5/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Though this film is good enough horror shlock, there is not enough to it to make it compelling or anywhere near above average.

I will admit I often found this film to be funny, though more often than not in an unintentional way on the part of the film. There were parts of the film that almost played like a comedy, everything was so laughably over the top, though I did like that about the film.

I enjoyed the B movie charm of this film and thought the dumb spectacle was very entertaining. Sadly, the characters were very milk toast and failed to inspire any kind of reaction in me; other than one of boredom.

Moreover, the film suffered from pacing issues throughout with the film feeling about double its actual length. There were times when the film entirely lost me, and I found it very hard to keep paying attention to it.

Overall, entertaining enough, but not without deep issues that bog it down.

Pros.

The spectacle

It is dumb fun

Cons.

The acting

The pacing

Frequent excursions into boring

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Ribbon: Fighting In The Corporate Machine

4.5/5

Written by Luke Barnes

This film holds a mirror up to the ugly twisted face of corporate America, whilst also asking us if we weren’t already familiar with it. This film manages to do social commentary in such a special way, where it feels entirely organic to the story and the world of the film, yet it is also cutting, to the point and often times shocking as well; even when done in a comedic way.

Socio-political points aside, this film is at heart a comedy and in that regard it also succeeds. As I write in many of my reviews judging comedy films can be hard as what I find funny you may not: it is hard to find an objective good when it comes to this type of film. That said I found this film to be hilarious, it made me laugh multiple times throughout and when I wasn’t I was smiling.

This was in no small part due to the characters, who you do become deeply emotionally invested in by the end of the film. All of the characters in this film are written in such a way that they feel deeply human and personable: this is so much the case that it is very hard to not end up caring about them. They are incredibly well written.

Overall, this film is a triumph, a few scenes had a bit of bloat to them but that aside- near perfect.

Pros.

The social commentary

The humour

The characters and how they come across

The ending

The style of the film

Cons.

A little bloated in places

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Ebola Rex: Does What It Says On The Tin

3/5

Written by Luke Barnes

This film will never win any awards, it will never be lauded, but it will entertain you for a little over an hour and provide you with some good, switch your brain off, trashy, fun.

The characters are all paper thin, but again you aren’t really watching this film for nuance or for rich meaningful character arcs, you are watching it to see a T-Rex with a deadly disease destroy things and just generally be a pain. In that regard there is plenty of b movie esque destruction and carnage, enough to easily pad the film out.

The pacing of the film generally works. I found that the film was starting to run out of steam by the end, and had it been any longer it would almost certainly have suffered from pacing issues, but as it stands it feels well balanced.

I think how much you enjoy this film will come down to how much you enjoy B movie monster films.

Overall, fun but nothing to write home about.

Pros.

Mindless fun destruction

B movie charm

Well-paced

Cons.

Paper thin characters

The gimmick gets old fast.

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Plan B: ‘Save Your Car For Your Husband’

4/5

Written by Luke Barnes

On the surface the similarities between Plan B and the HBO Max exclusive Unpregnant are hard to ignore. Both feature young women seeking out a way to get rid of their unwanted pregnancy, which takes the form of a cross country road trip with their best friend, both differently cover a lot of the same ground, however, both are unique, and both are good in their own right.

Plan B steers away from some of the more social conscious, politics heavy areas of Unpregnant and focuses more on the leading pair coming of age and what that means for girls in this day and age. That is not to say there aren’t some heavier moments peppered in, there are, but widely this film is more comedy focused.

I found this film to be quite funny, it made me laugh out loud on a good few occasions and had me chuckling throughout. I thought both the leads had moments to shine in this department and were well balanced, avoiding a one’s funny one’s trying too hard style situation.

Overall, a strong comedy film about coming of age and female friendship, only spoilt by a few slight pacing issues.

Pros.

The humour

The leads

It feels real and lived

You care about the characters by the end

Cons.

The pacing

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The Conjuring, The Devil Made Me Do It: Always Remember Your Heart Pills

3/5

Written by Luke Barnes

I am very mixed on this film. It is different from the other two Conjuring films, but that is both a good thing and a bad thing.

As a good thing it is nice to see the film focus on one case that is very self-contained and does not feel like it is setting up a few hundred tie in sequels, prequels and spin offs. I thought the story itself was interesting and told well.

However, my issue with this film comes from its stakes. So the previous films have had the Warren’s square off against demons, sometimes a few at the same time, however here they are facing a far more human threat. The villain of this film is an evil Satanist because we still need to add to the fears of the Satanic Panic, years after it was all the rage. Whilst this could have been a cool idea it does feel quite anti-climatic and like a step back after what we have already had.

Moreover, I feel like this film is really stretching the ‘based on a true story’ concept, as yes technically it is but if you read up on the real life events you will quickly see just how loose that is.

I enjoyed Farmiga and Wilson as always and I thought John Noble was a nice addition to the cast: the acting in the film is definitely a high point.

My question really is where do they do with the series from here? They are quickly running out of stories from the Warren well, and the ‘based on a true story’ narrative is also starting to wear thin. They need to fast track some of those spin offs to fill the void, cough, cough Crooked Man.

Overall, still good, just a bit underwhelming.

Pros.

Wilson

Farmiga

Nobel

Cons.

The villain feels like a step back
It feels very final I don’t know how they will be able to continue it

The based on a true story line is starting to become a lie

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