Juamanji: The Next Level (2019) Film Review

One thing leads to another and several of the original crew end up back in the game – although not exactly the same group. But the world has changed, there are desserts and angry ostriches, a different bad guy and a whole heap of different fun.

My big issue with Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle was the lack of women and the way the few females in the film were represented… while this is still extremely male heavy, a few things have improved. We’ve got Awkwafina, which is delightful, she’s marvellous. Then a few of the sense with the women are a bit better. I mean, there’s still a long way to go, and there’s a huge setup for a sequel at the end. Maybe they could get a few women on the writing team… maybe even just one?

Fast & Furious 6 (2013) Film Review

So, you know how Hobbs (Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson) was a cop chasing these guys back in the last film? And they end up teaming up, and the good cop realises that the bad guys are not the most bad guys and lets them go after they sort out the really bad guys? Well, guess what? There are more really bad guys, and the good cop needs the crew (you know, all the fast car drivers from the previous films) to sort it out.

Ridiculous, implausible and totally wonderful. I love it. I don’t want my action films to be at all realistic. I want them to be Mission Impossible and Fast and the Furious. (I mean, ideally I’d like to see some more action films with kick arse strong women at the fore, but until Hollywood realises that we want more in the style of The Long Kiss Goodnight, give me these). At some point, things can’t keep getting bigger and faster. But there’s two more out there and so let’s see where it goes.

Fast Five (2011) Film Review

They’re out of the US, but the F&F crew need one last job to get enough money to live like kings in places without extradition. They’re in Brazil and there’s a big job they can do. Then along comes Hobbs (Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson) and they find perhaps they have met their match.

Wonderful. Dumb. Fast. Furious. Lots of significant looks, some fabulous one-liners and a lot of general coolness.

Pain & Gain (2013) Film Review

Based on a true story, this follows bodybuilder Daniel Lugo (Mark Wahlberg) and his two sidekicks, Paul Doyle (Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson) and Adrian Doorbal (Anthony Mackie) as he attempts to become rich of the back of his extremely unpleasant personal training client Victor Kershaw (Tony Shalhoub).

I wonder how much of the story has been changed to make this film. The violence is quite unpleasant, but as long as you can get through that, it’s extremely funny. The characters are insane, extremely unbelievable and over-the-top, but fabulous. And then Rebel Wilson turns up, and she’s just doing so darn well. And Ed Harris. And Ken Jeong. It’s a pretty darned funny film.

Get Smart (2008)Film Review

Like Fun With Dick and Jane, this was a film that I re-watched after disliking the first time, and was generally, pleasantly surprised. Having loved the television series Get Smart, I wondered how on earth it could be remade with any credibility at all. The answer? Steve Carell.

The premise is that Maxwell Smart (Steve Carell) is an analyst at CONTROL, a secret spy agency. He is desperate to get out into the field and be an agent, despite being quite physically incompetent. A break-in results in Maxwell being one of the only agents able to be deployed, sent out with Agent 99 (Anne Hathaway).

It’s quite good, but certainly any weaknesses in the script are saved by the cast. Not only is there Carell and Hathaway, but Alan Arkin as the chief, Bill Murray in a delightful cameo as Agent 13, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson (who I totally love playing comedy or action, but ideally both) as Agent 23 and Terence Stamp as Siegfried from KAOS. For me, I still didn’t like the last half hour or so. Perhaps it should have been a ninety minute film rather than a hundred-and-ten minute film. Or perhaps the last section just needed to be better.

If you are a massive Get Smart (the television show) fan, you may like the nods to the original that are in this, but overall, there was no way it was ever going capture the kitsch glamour of the original.

 

The Other Guys (2010) Film Review

Every time I try to tell someone about this film, I get so excited by it that I end up watching it. It happened again last weekend. I don’t think The Other Guys did very well at the cinemas, which is a darned shame. Here’s the low down.

Due to a hilarious mishap, the heroes of the New York City Police Department (Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnston and Samuel L Jackson) are no longer the top cops and some of the other guys are trying to step up. Terry Hoitz (Mark Wahlberg) is an excellent cop who made a career destroying mistake which has left him attending a ridiculous support group and partnered with forensic accountant Alan Gamble (Will Ferrell). Martin(Rob Riggle) and Fosse (Damon Wayans Jnr) are two other cops desperate to get in on the action, and who are utterly terrible at delivering an action movie-style one-liner. Love it. When Gamble accidentally stumbles across a conspiracy, they have to go rogue to try to find justice.

I reckon that the storyline is a bit weak, especially some of the details regarding the conspiracy, but I don’t care. The film is just so funny and absurd that I love it. From the whisper fight to the mysterious attraction of Gamble and the skills that Hoitz developed as a child to bully other children, it’s marvelous. I am a fan of Ferrell, and I think if you don’t like him and his humour, you probably won’t like this film. However, there is an amazing supporting cast including the marvellous Steve Cogan as the incompetent businessman and Eva Mendez as the ‘plain’ wife of Alan Gamble. Plus, it was totally and utterly wonderful to see Michael Keaton back on the screen as the fantastic police chief with a part-time job at Bed, Bath and Beyond who is constantly accidentally quoting TLC. Too good.

Now I’ve said all of that, I just want to watch it again. Hilarious.