RED 2 (2013) Film Review

Post – RED, Frank Moses (Bruce Willis) has well and truly hooked up with Sarah (Mary-Louise Parker) and they are living, well, some kind of a life. He’s fearful, she’s bored. Then Marvin (John Malkovich) turns up dead; at least for a moment, and Victoria (Helen Mirren) is charged with killing them, and it’s on. Awesome times. And then add in Bailey (Anthony Hopkins) and you’ve got a fabulous romp.

I absolutely and totally loved this. I love the humour, I love the action, I love the casting, and I kind of hope they made more, but I suspect they won’t. Wait… According to IMDB, Red 3 is in development. Yes!!!

 

Penguins of Madagascar (2014) Film Review

Have you seen Madagascar? Were your favourite characters the penguins? Do you want more? Here y’are.

It’s fabulous. Essentially, you’ve got Skipper (Tom McGrath), Kowalski (Chirs Miller) Rico (Conrad Vernon) and Private (Christopher Knights). Private is valued for his cuteness but is not listened to for any practical skills. Then along comes the scary Dave (John Malcovich), an octopus with an axe to grind, and the penguins need to combine with the creatures of elite fighter group North Wind to save the day.

Great cast, fab scripting, lots of jokes for adults and even many of the jokes for the kids were good too. It’s rare at a film aimed at children to hear the adults laughing as much if not more than the children, but that’s what you get from this. (Side note… with my usual bug bear, there is very poor representation of females in this film. There is only one woman, and while she is capable, she is also the sexy love interest. Why oh why oh why could there not have been even a couple of female characters? Why couldn’t a couple of the penguins been girls? Or more of the North Wind crew? Or the baddie? Come on, people. Come on.)

RED (2010) Film Review

Frank Moses (Bruce Willis) is retired and living a quiet life. His favourite thing to do is flirt with call-centre worker Sarah (Mary-Louise Parker) – until he is forced out of retirement. He is an ex-assassion, now categorized as RED – Retired Extremely Dangerous. To get his freedom, he needs to assemble a team of other REDs including Joe (Morgan Freeman), Victoria (Helen Mirren) and Marvin (John Malkovich), dragging Sarah along with them.

I loved it. I loved seeing Helen Mirren wielding a machine gun and just all the running and shooting and explosions, humour, of course, and Bruce Willis doing what he does best. Kicking ass.

 

Warm Bodies (2013) Film Review

I’m not crazy for zombie films. I tend to get too scared – especially the new running zombies. The old staggerers I could deal with. But a good zombie comedy – you won’t hear me complain about that. A zomromcom? I only knew of one, Sean of the Dead (love it) until now.

Something has happened – it might have been a virus or something else. That’s not important. But now, there are zombies. R (Nicolas Hoult)  has been a zombie for a while, and is pretty bored with his life – shuffling about, looking for food, trying to entertain himself and remember what it was like to be human. And then he falls in love – with a real, live human. Julie (Teresa Palmer) is stuck behind enemy lines, and R saves her. Before long, things start to change. But can she love him, and is there any place in this world for this love?

Fun, silly, and thoroughly enjoyable. I suppose you could argue that it takes a look at what it is to be human, and what happens when we lose sight of our humanity. I just liked the chasing and fighting. And the montage on the plane. That was pretty funny.