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Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014)
Fun spy story, but aimed at 14 year old boys
Actor Colin Firth brings a measure of class to all the movies he appears in, and this film is no exception. Colin Firth plays Harry, code name Galahad in the Kingsman Agency, a sort of secret service that is reminiscent of the old classy style James bond films, but with fun set pieces of almost cartoon violence. It is all a bit tongue in cheek, quietly making fun of itself, or so I felt. Others may disagree. The movie looks to be the launching pad for a movie series starring the young recruit Eggsy (Alex Nikolov)a bad boy with a heart of gold, surely meant to appeal to boys as a clever tough guy, and to girls as a diamond in the rough. Sadly the story kills off Harry about half way through, and with his departure goes the class and better humour. As such, sadly, the first half is much better than the second half.
These movies rely heavily on the quality of the bad guy. After all, how can we display the excitement and daring do of the good guy, without a decent bad guy to battle against? The film planned well, employing Samuel L Jackson to be Richmond Valentine, an evil tech billionaire. Unfortunately this is Samuel Jackson's possibly worst performance of all time. It may not be entirely his fault. His is dressed like a 12 year old from the 1940's, talks with an unbelievable and quite annoying lisp, and his actions are not intelligent, despite the fact that he is supposed to be brilliant. The more his character is on the screen, the worse the film gets.
If there is a sequel, which one would expect was the whole point of this movie, the absence of Colin Firth, and the bad writing that gave us the Richmond Valentine character, should ensure that it is, sadly, terrible.
Swearnet (2014)
It is only funny if you think swearing and farting is funny.
I just watched this on netflix last night. I was interested to see if the boys were anything more than just the one hit wonders of "the trailer park boys". Going by Swearnet, the answer is no. It was terrible. One clue was that the only famous people they could get to do guest spots in the movie were Tom Green - a washed up has been, and Carrot Top, a washed up never was. The only aspect of this movie that is funny is the fantasy images of themselves they created. Hot dumb blonde girlfriends, big houses filled with video games, pinball machines and weight sets. This is what you would expect from a dim 13 year old boy, and this movie would probably appeal to a dim 13 year old boy. But if you expect more than swearing and fart jokes you will probably not be able to sit through the whole movie.
Credo (2008)
Uninspired, dull, and poorly made.
When you think of the time, effort, and money that goes into making a film, it is surprising that people would get behind making such an obviously bad script into a film. A group of uni students wandering around at night in an abandoned building that is rumoured to have been the site of a mass murder years before due to a demon summoning gone wrong. I think they had more original plot lines in the Scooby Doo cartoon TV series. You can imagine how long they spent developing the premise. The time it took to drink a pint in the pub. Maybe two. So saddled with a disappointing premise, someone outlines a slow and uninspired story line. This is then fleshed out with awkward and dull dialogue. At this point even a-list Hollywood actors could not save this train wreck. The poorly filmed badly directed efforts of the untrained/novice actors just ensure that there is not a moment to enjoy in this film.
Family Weekend (2013)
Exaggerated characters in an enjoyable dysfunctional family
This movie features some strong actors as entertaining over the top characters in a funny yet ultimately touching story line of a high school age daughter who sees that her family has fallen apart, and is willing to do anything to bring it back together. This film has that successful foreign comedy feel about it, but with the benefit of being in English. If you can enjoy some silly in your comedies, you should like this.
Olesya Rulin, previously seen in the Disney High School Musical series of films, does an excellent job portraying an obsessive yet loving over-achiever who decides to take action to save her family.