Half Brothers: Stealing Goats

Half Brothers is a comedy film directed by Luke Greenfield. The plot sees two half-brothers Renato (Luis Gerado Mendez) and Asher (Connor Del Rio),come into contact for the first time after the death of their father (Juan Pablo Espinosa).

This film brought a tear to my eye and broke my heart, as a comedy film I don’t know if it was aiming to do this or if this was a mistake, but there is some powerful emotions in this film. The father journey is beautifully told over the course of the film, starting with him leaving Mexico to go to the States and then never being able to come back and the impact that has on Renato. How he never gave up trying to come back and has thought about seeing his first son again all his life, it is touching and deeply sad.

I enjoyed seeing the two-brother bond over the course of the film, yes the storyline was nothing new, but the leads had enough chemistry that they pulled it off and made it enjoyable. Both characters were more than they first appeared and had nuanced moments and arcs of their own, usually the writing in comedy films is quite weak but I have to hand it to this film it really managed to buck that trend.

My one issue with this film would be that though it is well written and has strong emotional resonances, it is not funny and at the end of the day it is supposed to be a comedy film. Now as I often say comedy is subjective, but for I didn’t really find myself laughing at all, smiling a few times but no laughs.

Overall, as a comedy film it is a let-down, but as a drama and a character piece this is incredibly strong. If you change what you are looking for and your initial expectations there is a rough diamond here.

Pros.

It is touching

The emotional arc

Salient points about society

The performances

Cons.

It is not funny

4/5

Reviewed by Luke

Shithead: Getting High By Any Means Necessary

Shithead is a comedy film directed by Mike Morelli. The plot follows Jordan Cantwell (Johnny Smith), a man with a quest: to get as high as humanly possible and meet his favourite face paint rapper. Issue, he can’t get the goods, what’s a guy to do? Well Johnathan sees his girlfriends baby as a good source of drug money, a plan hatches.

I want to open this review by saying, what should be my catchphrase at this point, comedy is subjective it is one of the hardest genres to review and what works for me wont necessarily work for you. That said this film made me laugh.

I was quite lucky to have the chance to see this, and when it came into my inbox I checked it out almost straight away, I am always on the lookout for comedies, but like with horror I seem to have seen all of the good ones at this point.

The premise alone is hilarious, but it really is all in the execution: there are multiple laugh out loud moments in this film that had me in stiches, thinking about them now writing this is making me laugh. When I wasn’t laughing I was smiling, as though the characters are bad people there is still a likeability there.

Smith makes for a good protagonist who has tones of relatability, despite wanting to sell a baby, we have all had a day when we just want to cut loose and go and see our favourite band or artists and have set out on a quest to make that happen.

Overall, one of the funniest films I’ve seen so far in 2021.

Pros.

The premise

It is relatable

The characters are likeable and fun to watch

It is very funny

The ending

Cons.

A few slow moments

4.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

Bliss: Is This The Real World Or Is This Just Fantasy

Bliss is a science fiction drama film directed by Mike Cahill. The plot follows Greg Whittle (Owen Wilson), a man who finds out he is living in a simulation, or is he? Is this the real world? Or is the world beyond ours the real one? Or is it all the by-product of drugs.

This is Owen Wilson’s big come back film, he’s been absent from our screens for far too long and I for one am glad to see him back. He plays the everyman well and is heart-breaking as a father who slips into another world and is forced to question whether everything he knows is real, he doesn’t even know whether his own daughter is real.

This film is confusing, clearly by design, and it never does state which world is the real one, or if there is even two worlds at all, even the final scene of the film is ambiguous. You will only have any decisive opinion of what is actually happening if you read what the creatives say in interviews, as they spell it out.

My one issue with this film is the writing. Now, for the most part the writing is solid and works well, but here and there you see little things that ruin it slightly, this can be seen with character irregularities mainly with Selma Hayek’s character, which make things a bit too obvious and don’t fit with the rest of the film.

Overall, this film will fill you with a sense of existential dread, and stay with you long after it ends, welcome back Mr Wilson.

Pros.

The premise

The ambiguity

Owen Wilson’s comeback

The ending

Cons.

The writing is slightly weak and inconsistent in parts

Reviewed by Luke

4/5

South Park Bigger Longer Uncut: Singing Songs Of Madness

South Park Bigger Longer And Uncut is an animated musical film directed by Trey Parker. The plot sees the boys become caught up in a war between the parents of South Park and the Canadian Government after the kids see the new Terrance and Phillip (Matt Stone and Trey Parker). movie and it starts to influence and impact their behaviour. There is also a subplot about Satan (Parker), and Saddam Hussain (Stone), trying to take over the world.

I am a big South Park fan and have been for a while, however, I hadn’t seen this movie before and I pretty much forget it existed, but then the other day I was scrolling through Prime and saw it and thought I would put it on and give it a go, I had mixed reactions.

Usually when adult animated shows do songs they are good, there have been many hits (at least for me), from a number of different shows including Family Guy and American Dad, South Park too has had a number of funny songs over the years, this film sadly took this and then over did it to a point of killing it. Much like in the worst kind of musicals, there was a song every few minutes in this film, most of the time the song wouldn’t even be funny it would just be explaining what was going on on-screen, which feels lazy, and felt crammed in for the sake of it. It became irritating after a while.

The comedy is strong here though and that does redeem the film somewhat, in the non-singing moments there are a number of jokes that made me laugh out loud and a few that made me chuckle. I wanted more of these and less constant repetitive songs.

Overall, making this film a musical rather than just an extended episode not only handicapped it, it killed it.

Pros

A few funny jokes

An interesting premise

Cons.

It does not justify its existences

The songs are annoying

The ending feel cheap and unearned

The multi-episode storylines of later seasons are infinitely better

2/5

Reviewed by Luke

Psycho Goreman: Children Are Brats

Psycho Goreman is a science fiction horror film directed by Steven Kostanski. The plot sees two small children unwittingly reawaken an ancient evil. However, lucky for them they also find the gem that controls said ancient evil, which means they know have a world ending new toy.

I’m mixed on this one, for what it is worth before we get into it I don’t think you should watch the trailer before you see this film as it is misleading, and makes the film look like something it is not. Firstly, this is not a horror film it could be called a horror comedy but would be more likely fit under the science fiction comedy heading and there is no real horror in the film.

I enjoyed the campy pulpiness of this film and thought it definitely had a lot of B movie charm to it. I thought the humour also worked, at least to my tastes, as I often laughed at how off the wall and downright odd a lot of the jokes were.

The emotional plot beats and the bond between the kids is nice to see develop, they do put a lot into character work here and it does pay off as the final transformations feel earned and satisfying. The child acting was ok, they were annoying at time as child actors often are, but I have to say I have seen worse in other films.

My main issue with this film is the lack of action, I understand it is a comedy film more so than anything so we are not going to get these big intense battles, but a little more action would have been nice. We get these teases across the film of PG’s (Matthew Ninaber) past which elude to huge battles, but then cut away right before things get interesting which I found to be disappointing.

Overall if you are looking for a niche comedy you will enjoy this film if you are looking for horror or action look elsewhere.

Pros.

The B movie charm

The humour

The ending

Cons.

The child acting wasn’t good

The lack of action

2.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

Baby Done: Climbing Trees Whilst Pregnant

Baby Done is a New Zealand comedy drama film directed by Curtis Vowell. The plot follows the life of reluctant soon to be Mother Zoe (Rose Matafeo), as she has to deal with the fact that her life is changing beyond her control.

Taika Waititi’s (the executive producer) finger prints are all over this film. I mean no criticism by this, rather I am saying that Vowell has managed to recreate than sense of outsider charm that Waititi is know for. Watching this I was reminded of early Waititi ventures such as Eagles Vs Shark, both feel tonally very similar and that is a good thing.

I enjoyed this films atypical look at motherhood, and how not everyone is thrilled with and into the whole mum idea. I think this film speaks to what a lot of women might feel but not vocalise and it is nice to see this type of motherhood represented on screen as it provides a nice contrast to stereotypical Hollywood I wanted to be a mum all by life types.

The characters are wonderfully quirky and delightfully funny, this is a particularly true of Matafeo, but it also applies to Matthew Lewis and some of the supporting cast. Though this film might not be a laugh a minute, it does make you chuckle here and there, and you are smiling constantly throughout.

My favourite thing about this film is the way it handles Zoe’s emotions, it shows her confusion, fear and frankly anger towards being pregnant as well as the joy when the child is born, this provides a perfect emotional nuance to the film that helps to further its impact.

Overall, a film that manages to do both heart and comedy well.

Pros.

The nuanced take on motherhood

Straying from the standard

Matafeo

Lewis

The Waititi quirkiness

Cons.

A few slow moments

4.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

Instant Family: Wahlberg Is On His Best Behavior

Instant Family is a comedy drama film directed by Sean Anders. The film follows a couple, Pete, and Ellie, (Mark Wahlberg and Rose Byrne), who decide to adopt three kids. The film follows the life of the new family and explores what the word family really means.

Right off the bat I will say that you have seen this before, the storyline has been mined for all it is worth and you know exactly what is coming right from the first minute: it is insanely predictable. However, despite this the film still manages to nail its core emotional beats and as such you become invested in the story and the lives of these characters: the final showdown in the court room is rather moving.

You can see that Wahlberg is struggling to deviate from his tough guy persona here, unlike Byrne he struggles more with the emotional scenes and is less believable as a result. However, he does have a few good moments that warm the heart, such as the scene he scares with teenage wild card Lizzy (Isabela Moner), when they smash things up together.

With that in mind I would say Moner is the star of the show here, she nails both the comedy and the heart and hers is the character that feels the most realised and explored. Moner brings more to the role that just the usual teenage moodiness and actually makes the character compelling, even managing to upstage Wahlberg and Byrne at times.

Overall, though this film is nothing new its huge heart is enough to win you over.

Pros.

The heart

The ending

Isabela Moner

Cons.

Wahlberg feels out of place

It is very obvious and predictable

3/5

Reviewed by Luke

Blithe Spirit: Move, Change Your Number, Die, You Can Never Really Escape Your Ex

Blithe Spirt is a comedy film directed by Edward Hall. The plot follows author/ screen writer Charles Condomine (Dan Stevens) who after performing a mocking séance accidentally brings back his dead first wife Elvira (Leslie Mann), much to the chagrin of his current wife Ruth (Isla Fisher). The three have to find a way to live with each other.

I had been looking forward to this film for a long time, and when I saw it, it met my expectations. The main strength of this film is its charm, all of the character have moments that make you laugh and cheer, which work mainly because of the overwhelming charm of the film.

The humour was not laugh out loud funny, but it did have me smiling consistently throughout. I enjoyed the premise and thought that the idea was quite ingenious, I also thought the rules came up with for ghosts and how they could and couldn’t interact with the living were fascinating.

Furthermore, I thought Dan Stevens was a perfectly fine lead but that he was outdone at every turn by Mann and Fisher, really this was there movie. I loved the interplay between the characters, even though by the logic of the film one cant see the other, I thought the actors had great chemistry and whenever the two shared a scene together I thought it popped fantastically.

Overall, an entertaining good time.

Pros.

Mann

Fisher

The premise and the execution

The world and the rules of the ghosts and the afterlife

Cons.

Judi Dench was underused

It wasn’t funny

3/5

Reviewed by Luke

Green Book: Driving Don Shirley

Green Book is a comedy drama buddy film directed by Peter Farrelly based on the real-life friendship of jazz pianist Don Shirley (here played by Mahershala Ali), and bouncer Tony Lip (here played by Viggo Mortenson). The film covers their initial meeting, and how through a tour of the American South the two bonded and effected each other’s lives.

Best picture winner? No. Good film? Yes. So, I went into this film expecting it to be very, very good considering the awards it has won and it is good there is no doubt about it, but it is not Best Picture good.

My main issue with this film is that it is often a bit too overly sentimental. Emotion within film is a fine thing, there are times when this film gets its emotional tone just right and the scenes feel weighty and important without feeling overdone, but there are also times when the emotional beats are just a little too much, a little forced and in those instances they feel cringey.

The friendship between these two characters is the crux of the film, and in that regard I can say that this film is a smashing success. Both Done Shirly and Tony Lip feel like well rounded and fleshed out characters, and the friendship between the two feels explored and nuanced; it is nice and heart warming to see this friendship feel like it is organically growing over the course of the film rather than feel forced.

Mortenson and Ali are both terrific and both have many dramatic scenes were they shine, and also a few comedic ones too, though Ali steals the show in those.

Overall, a nice heart-warming film that reminds you of the power of humanity and friendship, though it should not have won Best Picture.

Pros.

The friendship

The characters

The emotional journey

Good heart and a few laughs

Cons.

Sometimes feels a bit too overly sentimental

4/5

Reviewed by Luke

Are We There Yet: You Have To Be Super Human To Look After Kids, Literally

Are We There Yet is a comedy film directed by Brian Levant. The plot follows Nick Persons (Ice Cube), a man who has to drive the kids of the woman he wants to date across country: the twist is that these kids hate all the men their mum dates and actively try and sabotage him.

Ice Cube as an actor in my opinion is a mixed bag, sometimes he can be great other times he can be awful, see the Ride Along movies for proof of the latter. However, this may be my favourite performance from him yet. He plays Nick with all of this usual attitude and toughness but shows enough warmth and heart to make the kids and us the audience fall in love with him as well. I dare you to not tear up during the scene when he is saying goodbye to the kids.

The humour of the film was more hit than miss for me. Not every single one of the jokes made me laugh, but more than a few did. Ice Cube had some great moments such as the horse scene that are hilarious, and Tracy Morgan as the talking bobble head also had a number of funny moments.

Overall, I found this film to be far more charming than I thought it was going to be, it made me laugh, it made me cry and it impressed me by not having insufferable child performances.

Pros.

The heart

The humour

Ice Cube

Tracy Morgan

Cons.

A bit too reliant on slapstick comedy

4/5

Reviewed by Luke