Music And Lyrics: Deeply Out Of Tune

Summary

A washed up musician, played by Hugh Grant, must team up with an aspiring but timid writer, played by Drew Barrymore, in order to write a song for a competition that could put him back on top.

For Hugh Grant this is as far away from his heyday in films written by Richard Curtis as you can get in terms of quality, though maybe Mickey Blue Eyes was worse. There is little to be excited about in this film as there is nothing new here, it is just Grant playing a role that we have seen him play before, that’s not exciting.

Whilst an argument can be made that Barrymore and Grant have good chemistry and that certainly helps the film, the sometimes quite incredibly toxic dialogue hurts it beyond repair. Grant’s character in this does not come off as one we want to root for but rather a bit of a tosser and that is amplified by the often quite corrosive statements made by the film.

For me the worst sin committed by this film is the pace which borders on tedious at times, it doesn’t go over but it comes damn close.

Overall, one of Grant’s weaker rom-coms and proof of why he needed to get out of the genre.

2/5

Pros.

It is watchable

Grant and Barrymore have good chemistry

Cons.

It has a toxic message

It has pacing problems

It is a weak rom-com in multiple senses

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Memento: Finally Tattoos Serve A Purpose

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A man’s, played by Guy Pearce, quest for vengeance is disturbed by his amnesia and inability to form new memories.

Ah this takes me back to a beautiful time before Christopher Nolan thought he was the saviour of cinema and before his ego eclipsed the sun causing us all to live in darkness. Despite what some of my long time readers might think, I did used to enjoy Nolan’s films I think Interstellar is a brilliant film on a lot of levels, but the way he behaved in the pandemic with Tenet really did sour me on him. Anyway, my personal ramblings aside this is a great film, not quite Interstellar good, but certainly in the top half of Nolan’s filmography.

I particularly enjoyed how this film plays with its narrative and tries to do something new with it, for the time this film released in this was really quite revolutionary. Moreover, the mystery that it all leads to is very satisfying and well-constructed, I found myself having my expectations played with and challenged at multiple different turns.

My issue with this film as with a lot of Nolan’s work is the mixture of extreme pacing issues and a sense of smugness that pervades the work and taints it. Much like James Cameron Nolan seems to struggle to keep his films succinct and instead has them outstay their welcome, and that is not to say the ending of this film is bad, rather than there are a number of slow moments towards the end of the first act and throughout the second, it is in these moments the film lost me slightly.

Overall, definitely a good film, but one that comes to symbolise a lot of later issues with Nolan as a filmmaker.

4/5

Pros.

It does something different

A compelling mystery

It subverts your expectations in a way that doesn’t feel insulting

Guy Pearce is a good lead

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Daddy Day Care: The Adventures Of A Stay At Home Dad

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Eddie Murphy becomes a stay at home dad and then decides to turn his home into a day care centre.

This film was by no means awful, as some of Murphy’s later films are, but it was simply incredibly familiar and frankly lame. The plot of the film was so formulaic and played out that you knew exactly what was going to happen and when, and all of this was obvious from the jump, there were no surprises.

The humour was obviously for a younger audience a lot of slapstick and some gross out jokes these didn’t really land for me, but they did have a few more adult jokes that landed and made me laugh. On the whole I would say far more misses than hits.

However, what really does end up saving this film in my view is Eddie Murphy himself. Murphy brings a lot of charm and heart to the role and this helps to elevate the film beyond mediocre and into better territory. The end realisation that he was actually doing it to be closer to his own son all along and that it was better than the cushy advertising job he had before would had felt generic and dull with another actor but Murphy really sells it.

Overall, Murphy really does put in a lot to get this one over the line.

3/5

Pros.

Murphy

The heart

It is watchable

Cons.

More misses than hits with the jokes

It is incredibly predictable

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True Lies: Abducting Your Wife And Forcing Her To Almost Cheat As You Think She Is Cheating On You

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A husband, played by Arnold Schwarzenegger, and wife, played by Jamie Lee Curtis, become tied up in the spy game.

An Arnold Schwarzenegger action film whilst he was still roughly in his prime is an inherently appealing prospect, however, this film feels deeply rooted in the Nineties and I don’t mean that in a good way. In many senses a lot of the cliches and toxic ideas of the decade do bleed through, the way Schwarzenegger’s character treats his wife is incredibly dated and borderline sociopathic yet the film wants us to think it is okay and justified.

The action of the film is fun in an over the top extremely macho sort of way, Schwarzenegger can break men’s necks with just a quick snap of the neck no struggle at all. Though I would say that the poor CGI does mean that some of these action sequences age poorly and come off looking like an early video game.

In terms of performance Schwarzenegger seems to be having a lot of fun, but Jamie Lee Curtis is incredibly one note and plays the bored yet still loyal housewife cliché, her character lacks any kind of depth.

Overall, fun but incredibly dated.

3/5

Pros.

Schwarzenegger

The over the top action

It is unintentionally hilarious

Cons.

Curtis

Incredibly dated

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I Wanna Dance With Somebody: Hollow And Soulless

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A musical biopic of the life of Whitney Huston, played by Naomi Ackie.

There isn’t much wrong with this film but nor is there anything right with it, once you put the fantastic body of work of Huston to the side there really is nothing left underneath. In many ways this film milks the songs of Huston as much as they can because they are aware that without them they have an incredibly boring biopic that feels just the same as all the other recent musical biopics. Everything happens as if on a checklist and obvious this film tries to stick to real events, I would assume, but it is the same narrative we have seen time and again, the rise to fame followed by the drugs phase leading into a downfall and then attempted comeback ending on an optimistic note. It is just so play by numbers.

Ackie was fine as Huston, her performance wasn’t anything particularly special and I do feel like many other actors could have played the role with more vigour and have fallen into the person more, at no points whilst watching did I think she was Huston just someone playing here and sometimes not particularly well.

My final gripe with the film which I promise will be quick as it is my usual is, why the hell is this film on for over two hours? I know why because they stretch out the musical numbers for every drop they can get out of them, but I guess my real question is when did it become the norm for films to be on for this long? It feels like everything that comes out these days is passing the two hour mark whether deserved or not and that is becoming a real problem for me.

Overall, a deeply forgettable biopic.

2/5

Pros.

The Songs

It is watchable

Cons.

It is incredibly familiar

The acting is so so

It is on for far too long

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The Amazing Maurice: The Pied Piper Was A Cat

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A cat called Maurice, voiced by Hugh Laurie, and his human companion, voiced by Himesh Patel, travel town to town working a racket wherein they pretend to rid each town of their rats when in fact they have brought them.

I thought this was quite a charming animated film, what’s more the setting in the wider world of Terry Pratchett opens it up for all manor of possibilities if there ever was to be a sequel. I found the film to be fairly easy to watch with some likeable characters, but that is not to say everything about it was great.

The film certainly has some lulls wherein it slips into being boring and this is made worse by the pacing of the film. Furthermore, this issue is compounded by the fact that Patel’s Keith is never given much in the way of personality and is fairly bland so any section focusing on him on his own away from Maurice drags on. This is somewhat alleviated by Emilia Clarke’s Mallica who serves as both the narrator of the tale as well as the female lead and is in every respect the stand out character of the film. Clarke makes the character have so much life and charisma that it is hard not to be excited when the film is focusing on her.

Hugh Laurie as the titular Maurice is fantastic but then again you always knew he would be.

Overall, a fun animated film though one that could have worked better if the pacing was tighter.

3.5/5

Pros.

Clarke

Laurie

It is a lot of fun

The world of Pratchett

Cons.

The pace

It drags at times

White Noise: I Had To Check Whether Hitler Studies Was A Real Thing, That Is The State Of The World

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

A family cope with the after effects of a toxic chemical leak.

I don’t really know what was going on with this film, there were so many disparate plot elements happening here that meant any kind of meaningful story simply couldn’t be found. One second they will all be in the town shelter talking about the effects of the airborne toxin, and the next they were back in the family home talking about something else entirely. I would say from a narrative point of view this film is all over the place in such a way that it feels hyperactive.

Moreover, as other reviewers have said there is a certain sense of pretentiousness here for sure, the film is clearly made for a certain type of person and that person is someone who is very much the cinephile. I would say to my own enjoyment of the feature that I found myself laughing and was genuinely engrossed in the goings on that I could make out and understand, but there were times when I was laughing at the film, unintentionally so on its part, wherein I was laughing at just how pretentious it was.

The acting is fairly good Adam Driver and Greta Gerwig steal the show, but Don Cheadle does come in with some great moments as well, so I would say it is a toss up between all three. Though If I were forced to pick I would probably pick Gerwig as her scene in which she talks about trading sex for pills is quite moving.

Overall, not quite as good as Baumbach’s efforts with Adam Sandler, but still mostly enjoyable.

3/5

Pros.

Gerwig

Driver and Cheadle

It is fun and even funny at times

Cons.

It is very pretentious in parts

It is trying to do and be too much

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Wild Men: Haven’t We All Had This Thought Before

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

After being caught in a car crash Martin, played by Rasmus Bjerg, begins living out in the wilderness with the police on his trail.

I had been looking forward to this film for a while, but have to say after watching it I feel more than a little bit disappointed with it. Mainly my issue is the same one I have with many dark comedy films and that is that one part of that equation overshadows the other, in this case the dark and more dramatic stuff outweighed the lighter comedic elements and it made the film as a whole quite a depressing watch.

Maybe it is a national sense of humour that I don’t share as this is a Danish film and I am not Danish. I don’t know. I will say that the film made me laugh a few times over the course of its runtime so it was not without laughs simply it was the case wherein most of the jokes fell flat for me.

Overall, an interesting premise but the comedy didn’t connect with me and that meant that the darker dramatic elements took over and made this a depressing watch.

2/5

Pros.

The premise is interesting

The performances are mostly good

Cons.

It is depressing

The jokes don’t land

It has pacing issues

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Uncle Buck: What Is John Hughes’ Problem?

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

After the parents of a trio of children go out of town in is down to their somewhat alternative Uncle, played by John Candy, to look after them for a few weeks.

I thought this film was a delight, it had a lot of the good wholesome family fun of Home Alone with the added charm of a John Candy at the top of his game. Truly this film reminds you of just how much of a talent Candy was, he was gone far too soon.

The comedy of the film isn’t a hit a minute but far more jokes land than don’t. Moreover, the characters are written in such a way that they are all very easy to root for, I would say that John Candy’s Uncle Buck is the star of the show though he is challenged for top spot by a scene stealing Macaulay Culkin.

My one complaint, and for those of you who have read my reviews for a long time you will know what it is going to be, yes that’s right its is John Hughes obsession with sexual assault. There were many other ways they could have shown that the teen daughter’s, played by Jean Louisa Kelly, boyfriend, played by Jay Underwood, was bad, they didn’t need to have a scene where a girl is repeatedly saying no to his sexual advances. It is both uncomfortable and clashes horribly with the family friendly tone of the rest of the film, what Hughes’ problem was God only knows. This felt like a completely needless addition.

3.5/5

Overall, fun but stained by unnecessary darkness.

Pros.

Candy

The jokes

The wholesome family vibe for the most part

Culkin

Cons.

The deeply unnecessary sexual assault plotline

It has tonal issues

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Glass Onion, A Knives Out Mystery: Returning To Excess

Written by Luke Barnes

Summary

Benoit Blanc, played by Daniel Craig, goes to a private island to investigate a murder yet to come.

Whilst I still think this film is good, it pales in comparison to the first, not hugely, but certainly to a noticeable degree.

The writing is still sharp and the comedy and commentary is still very much on point, I laughed quite a few times during the film and thought that it had a number of insightful points about modern society.

Moreover, the vistas and the locations are still incredible to look at, and the film does present itself as the child of an Agatha Christie book and the excesses of the modern age.

However, outside of the comedy and the beautiful scenery is where the cracks start to immerge, and the hollowness begins to reveal itself more and more. This hollowness can best be seen in the performances, which do greatly lag behind the first film in that the ensemble never really comes together as well as feeling like each actor is playing a cliché or archetype rather than a real person. It feels like a group of actors acting rather than real characters interacting. The weakest member of the cast is probably Jenelle Monae who struggles to emote and gives an incredibly hammy accent turn midway through the film that simply isn’t believable at all, but this is why often musicians don’t make good actors.

Lastly, the runtime is an issue. At the two and a half hour mark the film quickly starts to develop pacing issues in act one and these get worse as the film progresses, there are many needless asides, flashbacks and so forth which whilst interesting to a degree in flushing out the world these characters inhabit, never really need to be.

Overall, still good but in some ways a little disappointing.

3/5

Pros.

The location

The comedy

Craig

Cons

The pacing issues and unsatisfying nature of the ending

The acting is frequently poor

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