Fun, light-footed, balances raunch with heart well. Good performances.
Rating: Good
Saturday, 8 August 2020
Get Hard (2015)
Surprisingly enjoyable, as long as you can get past the high number of prison rape jokes. Funny, pacy, inventive.
Rating: Good
Rating: Good
Sonic the Hedgehog (2020)
Utterly uninspired. Sonic is an irritating mix/rip-off of Genie, Quicksilver and Scrappy-Doo. Jim Carrey is sealed off in small one-room sets or bluescreen cockpits for most of his screentime (perhaps he demanded that he not have to travel more than 5 miles from his house), the cultural references range from dated to extremely dated (the movie Speed, the existence of hipsters, dabbing), and even Robotnik's tech design is boring sleek minimalism.
About as much effort is put into the story and characterisation as into the tacky product placement - there's 'hedgehog who has to stay on the move to avoid anyone taking advantage of his powers, then for no good reason decides not to', 'cop who likes Olive Garden and wants to move to the big city then for no good reason decides not to', 'nice wife who likes Olive Garden', 'sister-in-law who hates the protagonist for no reason', 'army general who likes Olive Garden brings Robotnik in' and that's about it.
Rating: Awful
About as much effort is put into the story and characterisation as into the tacky product placement - there's 'hedgehog who has to stay on the move to avoid anyone taking advantage of his powers, then for no good reason decides not to', 'cop who likes Olive Garden and wants to move to the big city then for no good reason decides not to', 'nice wife who likes Olive Garden', 'sister-in-law who hates the protagonist for no reason', 'army general who likes Olive Garden brings Robotnik in' and that's about it.
Rating: Awful
Wednesday, 5 August 2020
How to Build a Girl (2019)
Starts off worryingly close to the standard 'girl finds herself, amongst wacky family members' Britcom format, but quickly moves into something with more soul and bite. Most effectively aimed at 14 year olds, and very tropey, but overall a charming, energetic 'don't fall for sneer-pressure' story.
Rating: Good
Rating: Good
Tuesday, 4 August 2020
Knives Out (2019)
An enjoyable murder mystery. Well-acted, looks nice. It has a fun tweak to the format, but otherwise is pretty standard. Some of the actors/characters are underused.
Rating: Good
Rating: Good
Monday, 3 August 2020
The Debt Collector (2018)
Really solid fight scenes and some fun mismatched-duo banter anchored by a couple of strong performances. It's a shame it doesn't stick with the day-in-the-life-of fun, as it drags a little once it gets into the larger plot, which finally fizzles out amongst some ham-fisted film school student frills.
Rating: Good
Rating: Good
Sunday, 2 August 2020
Bad Ass (2012)
The mix of sincerity and goofiness lend this some charm, and the fight scenes with the 67-year-old Trejo mowing his way through hulking gangbangers with ease are surprisingly solid, but in the end it doesn't manage to overcome its low budget, clunky script and some stilted performances.
Rating: Bad
Rating: Bad
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