Where do I start when it comes to how much I actually loved this movie? I guess I'll go with my all-out opinion on its director, David Leitch. With such solid titles as 'Bullet Train,' 'Deadpool 2,' 'Atomic Blonde' (which more people really need to check out), and the perhaps less appreciated, but super fun, 'Hobbs & Shaw.' I love this guy's style as an action director, and when he works with the right people, he can create something that takes you back to what blockbuster entertainment value used to be about. For this movie in particular, Leitch reconnects with writer Drew Pearce ('Hobbs & Shaw') and brings in co-writer Glen A. Larson, who's best known for his television writing on resurrected shows like 'Battlestar Galactica,' 'Magnum PI,' and 'Hawaii 5-0.' I wanna give this trio a lot of credit here, because it feels like they've delivered something here that just about anyone can enjoy. It's funny, it's action-packed, it's charming, and it's unique in that it's an underdog hero film about that unsung hero of film that is the stuntman. Said stuntman here is Colt Seavers (Ryan Gosling) who works in Hollywood as a stunt double for action star Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson). He has an off-screen romance with a camerawoman named Jody Moreno (Emily Blunt), loves his work and is living the dream. That is until one day, a stunt goes terribly wrong, Colt injures himself severely, and he abandons his career, leaving Jodi behind. He takes a job as a valet, in the meantime, parking cars with style for the rich and snobby. One day, Colt gets a call from producer, Gail Meyer (Hannah Waddingham) with the news that Jody is directing her first film, wanting Colt to join the production in Sydney, Australia. Colt jumps at the opportunity, despite being hesitant, but soon finds out why he was really brought in - to use his stuntman skills to find Tom Ryder, who has disappeared. His absence marks the film's cancellation, and he's needed back on set for it to go on. Not wanting Jody's film to fall through the cracks, Colt agrees, and the film picks up from there. When considering the film as a whole, there's so much I admire about its execution. One of the biggest details for me is that you have the ex-couple here throughout the movie, but their dialogue isn't just a bunch of bickering back and forth because for some reason people think that's funny. The few times they do get into any kind of fight, it's nothing overboard or stupid, and it's generally padded with real humour. For anyone who has seen this, the bullhorn scene is the perfect example of what I'm talking about. All that aside, it's always admirable to see some action with less CG and more genuine stunt work, and this movie is full of that. Some of the stunts end up being pretty unique, as well, my favourite being a bit of street surfing, which one can also catch a bit of in the trailer. There's even a long credit sequence here where they take you behind the scenes to see the real stuntmen at work on the film, which is admirable, as that's what the film is all about. I have to further credit it for being directed by a stunt coordinator. It's a great, unique idea. I can admit that at the end of the day, the film as a whole may end up somewhat predictable for some, and we've definitely seen the general plot of the famous person going missing and the unlikely hero(es) having to find them. But it's the execution of things I really admire here. It sort of stands as proof that in all honesty, a PG-13-rated action movie can still be a whole lot of fun. On a persoal level, I really loved what they came up with here, and it's bound to be on my "favourites" list of 2024. This is one I can recommend to the masses, so go have fun with this one if you haven't yet! 5/5
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Like with many 'Ghostbusters' fans who were looking forward to this movie, I read and watched a few critic reviews for it before going in. It wasn't doing well, and my only reaction to it was as simple as "wait for the fans' reaction". Thankfully, almost across the board, fans came out of this thinking it was pretty great, but also really drilling into critics for having their opinions. And when it comes to such a divide as that, that's when I really enjoy writing my reviews, as I can easily see the argument from both sides. Now, I'm not gonna sit here at my desk ripping something to pieces, but if I'm brutally honest with myself, I left the theatre liking it more than I probably actually did overall, as my fandom was kind of cranked to eleven for this. But don't worry, I'll get into everything I liked about it just as much, and at the end of the day, I'm still a huge fan of all of this, and would love to see more. But I should say that when I want to see more, I want to see this new crew move on with their new missions after this because as far as I'm concerned, the torch has officially been passed. We hit the ground running with the new Ghostbuster crew/family, consisting of the Spenglers, Callie (Carrie Coon) and her kids, Phoebe (Mckenna Grace) and Trevor (Finn Wolfhard) and Callie's now intimate partner, Gary Grooberson (Paul Rudd) as they drive Ecto-1 through the streets of Manhattan, giving chase to a ghost, and showing us how their skills have evolved over the past few years. Presumably, the old firehouse was handed to them by Winston Zeddemore (Ernie Hudson) after the torch was sort of passed to this family at the end of the last film, and they are the new Ghostbusters. In the aftermath of this destructive mission, the Spenglers are brought in front of Mayor Walter Peck (William Atherton), who has been looking for an excuse to shut down the Ghostbusters for ages. As leverage, the now somewhat rebelious 15-year-old Phoebe is taken out of the field, and the story turns largely more about her being upset about things and needing to "grow up", show more responsibility, listen to her mother, etc. She evntually meets and befriends a ghost named Melody (Emily Alyn Lind) and everything between them feels very much inspired by 'Casper the Friendly Ghost' concepts. Meanwhile, our side characters Podcast (Logan Kim) and Lucky (Celeste O'Connor) work for Ray Stantz (Dan Aykroyd) and Winston, respectively, studying haunted and possessed objects and testing new equipment, some of which has the ability to extract a spirit from an object and trap it, indefinitely. One day, a guy named Nadeem Razmaadi (Kumail Nanjiani) brings Ray a mysterious orb that has been in his family for ages, and inside said orb lies the big baddie threat of this movie, a master of ice a snow, a demon-like creature named Garraka who, if freed, will wreak frozen havok on the world. Critically, we have the return of these mini marshmallow men who, despite how cute they are, are basically here to be 'Despicable Me'. They seem to still be attached to Podcast in some way from the last movie, where they're also not explained very well. The best I can do is that they are meant to be leftover spiritual residue from the first fight with Gozer, which is where the 100-foot Marshmallow Man came into play. Besides that, we also already had out big nostalgic hit with 'Afterlife', so I don't see a whole lot of reason to throw so much of it at us at this point. Although the old toy commercials were a pretty great flashback. But for as much as I understand where critics are coming from with this, I have to admit that I still had fun with this for the most part. But it's a bit more about developing Phoebe and pretty much only Phoebe while giving us a bit of the old crew, namely Ray (who almost carries this movie) and Winston while Peter (Billy Murray), Janine (Annie Potts) and even Slimer are really only there for nostalgic purposes. Bottom line, If you're a long-time fan, check it out. If nothing else, it'll be a fun ride. If you're a critic, you're just doing your job, and even as a die hard fan of all this, I can't deny that it could have been much better than it was. 3/5 To this series credit, I can say with all honesty that I find it to be altogether pretty solid. And right off the bat, I'll tell you that this instalment may have been, altogether, my least favourite of the bunch. But it's still a lot of fun, and carries on Po's (Jack Black) story even further, just when we thought '3' might very well be about as far as Po could get, becoming a full-fledged "Dragon Warrior" and Grand Master of Kung Fu, becoming Master Oogway's successor. It's a "happily ever after" ending to things, and I didn't entirely expect much more from it. I won't go into very great detail on Po's development here, and the lessons and takeaways the three previous films give. For more on that, head over to my "Gearing Up" page for reviews on all three. Back to the point, however, it seems as though that "happily ever after" ending followed through, as we pick things up with Po being a hero to the Valley of Peace and bathing a little bit in his celebrty status which he also uses to help his adoptive goose Dad, Mr. Ping (James Hong), and his biological Dad, Li (Bryan Cranston) open a new and improved noodle restaurant. Soon, however, Po's sensei, Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman) comes in, as usual, to drive the plot forward. Even though we may have thought Po's development couldn't go much further, it seems there's just one more thing he has to do, and that's to name a successor, as Oogway did, seemingly not to long ago with him. This will also mean passing down the mantle of "Dragon Warrior" to whoever it might be, and that's not something Po is entirely ready to do, illustrating quite plainly that for as much as Po has gone, he still has a bit of growing up to do. But this time, he will not have the Furious Five to help out, as they are each off on missions or just living their respective lives in different ways. Auditions are held, and the fighters are impressive, but Po's attention goes to a thief fox he catches in the act named Zhen (Awkwafina), instead. And with word of Tai Lung (Ian McShane) returning (the villain from the original film) demands Po to check it out, he uses the opportunity to bring Zhen along and teach her a thing or two along the way, generally having to do with attitude as opposed to fighting skills, which she shows she has. We soon find out that the actual culprit is a Chameleon named... the Chameleon (Viola Davis) who has the ability to shapeshift and use the abilities of Kung Fu masters she has bested. The Chameleon's motivation in all of this is to get her hands on Po's staff (which he received from Ooogway in the Spirit Realm in the previous film) which will giver her the ability to open the Spirit Realm and steal even more Chi (again, refer to 'Kung Fu Panda 3') from the deceased masters. Now it's up to Po to stop her with the help of his unlikely apprentice. In the meantime, there's a sidequest involving Mr. Ping and Li going after Po because they worry he might not be able to pull his mission off, and to that degree, it's a little more of the same. Ping has always been a it of an annoyand with that, and now Li's doing the same thing. I have a few other little nitpicks here and there, but they are nitpicks. For example, this is another animated movie that does the thing where we see a group of adorable, puppydog-eyed kids who ultimately become little terrors, which is something I tend to find fairly cliche at this point. But at the same time, it is one of those cliches I can put up with for a chuckle. I also missed the Furious Five in this, but of course, I do understand their absense. They weren't necessarily needed, and to be fair, it is quite a cast, just between those five characters. Again, these are minor nitpicks. I think the biggest takeaway from this is that at this point, 'Kung Fu Panda' should probably finally come to an end with this. It may be my least favourite of the bunch, but it's still surprisingly enjoyable if maybe a little, tiny bit stale after a 16-year run. Thankfully, the films have been spread far enough apart, however, which adds to the enjoyablity of it all. Don't flood us with things, make us want things. All in all, this is a super solid series of animated movies that provide themes on growth, acceptence, being an all-around good person, and even finding one's path in life. I can highly recommend it for anyone with some growing to do, and that includes some adults! 3/5 This was one of those titles this year that sort of hovered in existence amid other titles that might put butts in seats. Admittedly, the advertising for this one wasn't entirely effective, and I was only really drawn in by Ethan Coen's name behind the film along with the stylistic look of it. The thing is, the trailer is altogether pretty misleading, offering up a fun road-trip looking 'Thelma & Louise' style adventure with a few solid names attached to it. The reality is that this is more of a story about two contrasting lesbian characters than anything else. To be perfectly clear, I don't have a problem with what the film turned out to be, it's just that it didn't turn out to be what I expected. It should also be noted that the other big names we see in the trailer like Matt Damon and Pedro Pascal are barely a part of things, and show up just to say "look who's here!" And while the film isn't without a bit of casually dark humour as Ethan Coen is known for, in order to enjoy this one to any degree, one will have to let go of some of the greater expectations they have from the name. In other words, this could be considered another 'Burn After Reading' for some. Taking place in 1999, Philadelphia, we meet Jamie (Margaret Qualley), a lady living her life in the fast lane, cheating enough on her lover, Sukie (Beanie Feldstein) that it leads her to getting kicked out of their apartment. While she's figuring out what to do about her situation, she learns that her friend, Marian (Geraldine Viswanathan) is planning to head out to Tallahassee, FL to visit family, so she requests to come along for the road trip. To do so, they go to a drive-away car service in which someone drives a car from one place to another for another client. The pair ask about a car destined to Tallahassee, which confuses the shop owner, Curlie (Bill Camp) a bit, but he shrugs it off and gives the girls the keys. It turns out his confusion was warranted, however, as someone else had already booked a car for Tallahassee; three criminals, Arliss (Joey Slotnick), Flint (C.J. Wilson) and Chief (Colman Domingo), who seemingly leads the team. Here, we find out that Jamie and Marian are, by no fault of their own, carrying something very sensitive in a mysterious briefcase. From there, Arliss and Flint begin the chase, questioning everyone the "Dolls" have been in contact with along the way. That's pretty much the plot, and it doesn't sound as misleading as I might have mentioned, but that plot does take a back seat to the other story here. What the film is really about is two friends; Jamie, who's wild and free, and Marian, who's far more conservative and a bit uptight, and Jamie trying to get Marian to loosen up and enjoy life more. All the while the pair share some sexual tension within their friendship as well, so things do indeed get a bit spicy with this one as one, again, might not take away from the trailer. I think the worst thing about this one is that before seeing the movie, I joked about what the precious contents of the briefcase might be, and it turned out I actually called it. Despite having a good laugh about accidentally calling it with a joke, that's also the problem - It really was a joke, and to some degree, that makes things kind of disappointing. Between that, a total tease of star power and things being pretty misleading, I definitely have my criticisms. I don't have any hate towards it, really, but I have to say I was disappointed on the whole, and when it comes to the Coen name, there are much better titles out there. To put it another way, I could see this getting something of a cult following over time, considering its overall subject matter, and the fact that it was a box office flop, so not a whole hell of a lot of people went to check it out upon its release. I didn't hate it, I didn't love it, it's misleading and pretty silly overall, but it's also not really without its moments. I think as long as one can go in with their minds open and know that this is more of a movie about a lesbian relationship than anything else it can be a decent time. But again, not the top of the Coen list of great movies. 3/5 Well, this was an interesting experiment, to say the least. The thing is, I can't imagine upon seeing this that it was ever gonna really pull people in. The only audience this could really be aimed at is the same audience that liked the '93 film 'My Boyfriend's Back' and are aiming to find a little nostalgia from the era. Even though this is a film that plays more on 80's nostalgia, let's not forget that for a while there, the 80s bled over into the 90s, and 'My Boyfriend's Back' is a good indicator of that. Regardless, it's no surprise at all to me that this bombed. Another potential draw to the film would be writer Diablo Cody, who certainly has her own cult audience in the palm of her hand (just like I'm in Edgar Wright's hand, to be perfectly fair), but I'd argue that they will be the ones to really take something away from this as opposed to someone like me, who's admittedly indifferent to Cody. I think this was a weird route to take in order to create something fresh for our nostalgia, much like 'Stranger Things' has managed to do, but I'd be lying if I said it didn't make me remember some of those oddball one-off dark comedy films from the late 80s/early 90s. The film centres on introverted "weirdo", Lisa Swallows (Kathryn Newton) whose mother was violently murdered some time prior to the film's events, and she's still got it on her mind. Her father, Dale (Joe Chrest) remarries a "wicked stepmother" type named Janet (Carla Gugino) who's terrible towards Lisa, but she brings her daughter, Taffy (Liza Soberano) into the mix who befriends Lisa as her new stepsister, and makes attempts to get her out of the house, including going to a house party where everything sort of kicks off involving, fair warning, a scene of her drink being spiked with something pretty heavy. In the process of tripping balls, Lisa heads to a cemetery that she frequently visits in her own time, speaking one-on-one with the grave of a young Victorian era man whose name we never get. In her depressed and drugged state, she wishes she "was with him" (as in dead), but the magic wish comes true in a different way, in which the young man comes back in a zombie state (Cole Sprouse) and seeks Lisa out, eventually resulting in the classic scenario of hiding a person or thing from the rest of the family and society, which has been done time and time again, but I will say this does a few different things with it. Bearing in mind that this is, in part, a horror movie, a lot of that comes from this idea that other people's body parts can be sewn onto the zombie guy, then, by way of a broken tanning bed, the body part in question merges with him making him more and more fully human every time. It's a cool idea, but as one can imagine, some of it manages to get kinda low-brow and is likely to make one's eyes roll. With that said, and without spoilers, I'll offer fair warning right now that the film gets incredibly weird and creepy, and one will have to look past some things to appreciate the ending. My thoughts on the film as a whole are a bit convoluted. On the negative end of things, I can't imagine who was asking for such a project, the film gets suggestively weird, even for me, who generally embraces weird, and in all honesty, this isn't gonna be something I remember much of by the end of the year. But some positives include some humorous dialogue and performances, a touch of renewed nostalgia, and the acting makes it feel like a film lost in time. If this was shown back in the early 90s, it would probably fit in pretty well. I would say to a general audience that one is gonna have to accept what the film is trying to call back to in order to fully appreciate it. You're also gonna have to be able to open your mind quite a bit to accept a few things here and there. I came out of this with a certain appreciation for what it did, but at the same time, it's really nothing special. At best, it's a decent call-back to an era. At worst, it's something predictable we've seen again and again. It's nothing I'd say is terrible, or even that bad, but it's pretty out there, so proceed with an open mind if you wanna enjoy it at all. 3/5 I'll just come out and say it, the original 'Mean Girls' is a pretty great movie. While on the surface it seems like a movie that only speaks to high school girls who are struggling with popularity, the truth of the matter is that it's a movie that further reaches out to anyone who has ever fallen under the "unpopular" category in their school years, complete with being bullied, manipulated, outcast, whatever the case may be. So, yeah, it's something that speaks to pretty much everyone - even the popular kids who went too far at some point or another. The film has since been deemed a comedy classic by many, and it's well known for bringing a few young stars into the spotlight like Rachel McAdams, Amanda Seyfried, Lizzy Caplan, and to a lesser extent, Lacey Chabert (already pretty well-known from 'Party of Five' at the time). And while this is basically the exact same story, but covered in some pretty solid musical numbers, I might suggest this could do the same thing with a whole new crew of actors I'm altogether unfamiliar with. It's a very faithful remake, but I have to say, it's also a bit of a carbon copy, and they don't do a whole lot of "new" here apart from the musical numbers. For those who may be a little unfamiliar with the story, we meet Cady Heron (Angourie Rice), who moves to America from Kenya with her Mother (Jenna Fischer), and changes from being homeschooled to attending high school. Her first day is a bit rough, but she befriends a girl named Janis (Auli'i Cravalho) and her gay best friend, Damian (Jaquel Spivey), replacing Ian; my favourite character in both the original AND this one, so not much change in characters here aside from making them more diverse, which I have to credit the film for. As it was before, the pair show Cady around and introduce her to the different cliques to see where she might fit in. The most popular clique, dubbed the "Plastics", consists of three of the most popular girls in school; Karen Shetty (Avantika) who replaces the airhead, Karen Smith of the original, a new version of Gretchen Wieners (Bebe Wood) and a new version of the queen bee, herself, Regina George (Reneé Rapp), who probably carries the most impressive musical numbers throughout the film, although everyone is still quite good. One day the Plastics have Cady sit with them, and "allow" her into their group essentially based on the fact that she's pretty and "could" be a part of their clique. Janis and Damian then put their heads together with Cady to use her as a sort of mole to spy on the Plastics, essentially for a laugh and to maybe get some info on these "perfect" girls to knock them down a peg. In the meantime, Cady falls for a young man in her class named Aaron (Christopher Briney), Regina's ex, which also becomes the start of Cady's real problems. Eventually, just like the original, the whole thing becomes a message about a combination of bullying, scheming, and just being an asshole and how in the end, it's never really worth it. You don't want to become something you don't like. At least that's my main takeaway. Truth be told, if you've seen the original, you've basically seen this already, so it's not something I can just immediately recommend to anyone who likes the original and may be stuck on it being the "only" 'Mean Girls'. Having said that, one should also at least see that this version is a little more diverse, some of the musical numbers are rather good, and I'd probably say that it's a solid watch for a new generation of high-schoolers whose parents grew up with the original. There's even a few solid cameos here from old stars like Tina Fey, Tim Meadows, Busy Phillips of 'Freaks & Geeks' fame (who fits in here very well as Regina's mother) and even Lindsay Lohan, herself, who originally played cady. I suppose at the end of the day it all boils down to which one you'd prefer. I might suggest that the original places a better focus on the overall story and characters, and less on the sex appeal which, if I'm honest, runs pretty rampant throughout the film, especially with Karen's character who may feel a bit more insulting here than Seyfried's Karen in the original, who was far funnier. This is one of thsoe cases where the film is perfectly fine for what it is, and newcomers to the story may prefer it. But it's my humble opinion that the original is actually quite a bit better. To each their own, though. 3/5 |