wellthatswhatithinkanyway
Joined Nov 2000
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STAR RATING: ***** Brilliant **** Very Good *** Okay ** Poor * Awful
Callum Drift (Dwayne Johnson) has become cynical with people's indifference to appearing on Santa's naughty or nice list, and hands in his notice as his assistant. But things take a drastic turn when Santa (J. K. Simmons) himself is kidnapped by a malevolent force, the head of a unit designed to protect the aura of 'true myths' (Lucy Liu), recruits a man called Jack O' Malley (Chris Evans) to accompany Callum in a mission to rescue the big man before it's too late.
2024 has ended with a satisfying selection of festive themed films relevant to the time of year, with Black Doves and Carry On on Netflix, and Red One, a theatrically released film from director Jane Kasdan, that has appeared very quickly on Amazon Prime. With a glossy, all star A list cast, it seems the star power may not have been enough to secure success at the box office, even being a Christmas film released at the right time of year, and how much word of mouth may have played in that, but the end result is something that will make you wonder.
As a Christmas themed, family friendly fantasy, a light hearted, tongue in cheek feel would have worked very well, so it's surprising how largely heavy and joyless the script feels, with even the usually affable, wise cracking Johnson on a largely gruff, grumbling tone. It's not helped by the slow, sluggish pace of the script, that drones on towards the end of an overly long two hour length, where the plot motivations are never entirely clear, along with the relevance of the characters to the proceedings, including an underused polar bear with an attitude, and J. K. Simmons himself as Santa.
It's a visually impressive spectacle, with some cool action sequences, and some spectacularly appealing special effects (to wit, Dwayne Johnson shrinking himself to take down several heavies on a beach, or two giant rock em/sock 'em robots getting to work in Krampus's lair.) Sadly, these can't gloss over the quite glaring flaws. ** and a half.
Callum Drift (Dwayne Johnson) has become cynical with people's indifference to appearing on Santa's naughty or nice list, and hands in his notice as his assistant. But things take a drastic turn when Santa (J. K. Simmons) himself is kidnapped by a malevolent force, the head of a unit designed to protect the aura of 'true myths' (Lucy Liu), recruits a man called Jack O' Malley (Chris Evans) to accompany Callum in a mission to rescue the big man before it's too late.
2024 has ended with a satisfying selection of festive themed films relevant to the time of year, with Black Doves and Carry On on Netflix, and Red One, a theatrically released film from director Jane Kasdan, that has appeared very quickly on Amazon Prime. With a glossy, all star A list cast, it seems the star power may not have been enough to secure success at the box office, even being a Christmas film released at the right time of year, and how much word of mouth may have played in that, but the end result is something that will make you wonder.
As a Christmas themed, family friendly fantasy, a light hearted, tongue in cheek feel would have worked very well, so it's surprising how largely heavy and joyless the script feels, with even the usually affable, wise cracking Johnson on a largely gruff, grumbling tone. It's not helped by the slow, sluggish pace of the script, that drones on towards the end of an overly long two hour length, where the plot motivations are never entirely clear, along with the relevance of the characters to the proceedings, including an underused polar bear with an attitude, and J. K. Simmons himself as Santa.
It's a visually impressive spectacle, with some cool action sequences, and some spectacularly appealing special effects (to wit, Dwayne Johnson shrinking himself to take down several heavies on a beach, or two giant rock em/sock 'em robots getting to work in Krampus's lair.) Sadly, these can't gloss over the quite glaring flaws. ** and a half.
STAR RATING: ***** Brilliant **** Very Good *** Okay ** Poor * Awful
Wallace (now voiced by Ben Whitehead) and Gromit are continuing to live their eccentric lives, with their wacky inventions. Wallace has got hold of Norbot (voiced by Reece Shearsmith), an 'IGnome', that performs various tasks around the garden. But their old foe, Feathers McGraw, the dastardly penguin, is eager for revenge and hacks into the Norbot control system, causing a whole army of Norbots to go wild, causing mayhem in Wallace's community, with the finger of blame pointing in his direction. But Feathers has more unfinished business with the pair that no one could have imagined...
Since their debut with 1989's A Grand Day Out thirty five years ago, Wallace and Gromit have sporadically appeared in various new adventures here and there, mainly in short productions, but including one previous feature length outing that hit the big screen, in the shape of 2005's The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. Despite the undeniable technical brilliance of the production involved in the plasticine models, the only entry I can say left a truly lasting impression on me was 1993's The Wrong Trousers, which featured an exciting plot to match the incredible technical mastery. So, it is encouraging, at least, that Vengeance Most Foul, the latest entry for the duo, does at least serve as a follow-up to that entry.
There are some strange anachronisms in Nick Love's latest production, strange little things like an old fashioned telephone and TV, leaving you wondering if it's meant to be set sometime in the 1950's, were it not for some more modern technology we see later on. As the second feature length addition to the W&G franchise, it certainly feels like it's on a grander scale, in scope and production design, but the format simply works better as a TV entry, starting to strain a bit when running just under an hour and a half, and feeling a little over indulgent. Aardman's Chicken Run sequel released last year was also similar in length, but was a sequel to a film that was also a feature film, and so was a little more digestible.
It's still quite a remarkable effort, the animation and production design as incredible as ever, with a funny script and a still impressively icy, cold villain in Feathers McGraw. It's a fun, wild ride, but one that outstays its welcome a little. ***
Wallace (now voiced by Ben Whitehead) and Gromit are continuing to live their eccentric lives, with their wacky inventions. Wallace has got hold of Norbot (voiced by Reece Shearsmith), an 'IGnome', that performs various tasks around the garden. But their old foe, Feathers McGraw, the dastardly penguin, is eager for revenge and hacks into the Norbot control system, causing a whole army of Norbots to go wild, causing mayhem in Wallace's community, with the finger of blame pointing in his direction. But Feathers has more unfinished business with the pair that no one could have imagined...
Since their debut with 1989's A Grand Day Out thirty five years ago, Wallace and Gromit have sporadically appeared in various new adventures here and there, mainly in short productions, but including one previous feature length outing that hit the big screen, in the shape of 2005's The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. Despite the undeniable technical brilliance of the production involved in the plasticine models, the only entry I can say left a truly lasting impression on me was 1993's The Wrong Trousers, which featured an exciting plot to match the incredible technical mastery. So, it is encouraging, at least, that Vengeance Most Foul, the latest entry for the duo, does at least serve as a follow-up to that entry.
There are some strange anachronisms in Nick Love's latest production, strange little things like an old fashioned telephone and TV, leaving you wondering if it's meant to be set sometime in the 1950's, were it not for some more modern technology we see later on. As the second feature length addition to the W&G franchise, it certainly feels like it's on a grander scale, in scope and production design, but the format simply works better as a TV entry, starting to strain a bit when running just under an hour and a half, and feeling a little over indulgent. Aardman's Chicken Run sequel released last year was also similar in length, but was a sequel to a film that was also a feature film, and so was a little more digestible.
It's still quite a remarkable effort, the animation and production design as incredible as ever, with a funny script and a still impressively icy, cold villain in Feathers McGraw. It's a fun, wild ride, but one that outstays its welcome a little. ***
STAR RATING: ***** Brilliant **** Very Good *** Okay ** Poor * Awful
'Helen Webb' (Keira Knightley) lives with her husband, Wallace (Andrew Buchan), the Secretary of Defence, and their two children. All seems idyllic, until her former Commander Reed (Sarah Lancashire), arrives back in her life, and informs her that her secret lover, Jason (Andrew Koji) has been killed, along with two other people, causing her to resurrect her former life as a secret spy, on a course for revenge. Reed sets her back up with Sam (Ben Whishaw), a hitman and her former trainer, and together they navigate a complex web of political espionage and murder.
The spy thriller has been one that has fallen out of popularity over the years, but one which still has potential to work in new and different formats. Black Doves arrived out of nowhere, with a massive publicity campaign, and has become the latest big Netflix production to top the charts, that aims to revive the genre in the modern day. The result is a truly mixed bag, that keeps your attention through its pleasingly succinct eight episodes, but can't really cover up the bumps in the script.
Overall, it's a pretty standard spy story, with some fairly standard cloak and dagger cliches, that anyone familiar with spy capers of old will recognise and even fondly embrace. The big problem is the uneven tone. The script bounces unevenly between wry, tongue in cheek action comedy and dark, heavy spy thriller, that leaves you thrown about too much to really take it in. It makes up for it, however, with some stylish, flashy action sequences, with Whishaw and Knightley creating a convincing pair of mismatched professionals, with strong support from Lancashire as the icy, detached M type commander.
The spy thriller remains one with boundless possibilities, and Black Doves, despite its flaws, is strong addition to the staple, with an interesting mystery at its heart, with some strong performances and action to match. ***
'Helen Webb' (Keira Knightley) lives with her husband, Wallace (Andrew Buchan), the Secretary of Defence, and their two children. All seems idyllic, until her former Commander Reed (Sarah Lancashire), arrives back in her life, and informs her that her secret lover, Jason (Andrew Koji) has been killed, along with two other people, causing her to resurrect her former life as a secret spy, on a course for revenge. Reed sets her back up with Sam (Ben Whishaw), a hitman and her former trainer, and together they navigate a complex web of political espionage and murder.
The spy thriller has been one that has fallen out of popularity over the years, but one which still has potential to work in new and different formats. Black Doves arrived out of nowhere, with a massive publicity campaign, and has become the latest big Netflix production to top the charts, that aims to revive the genre in the modern day. The result is a truly mixed bag, that keeps your attention through its pleasingly succinct eight episodes, but can't really cover up the bumps in the script.
Overall, it's a pretty standard spy story, with some fairly standard cloak and dagger cliches, that anyone familiar with spy capers of old will recognise and even fondly embrace. The big problem is the uneven tone. The script bounces unevenly between wry, tongue in cheek action comedy and dark, heavy spy thriller, that leaves you thrown about too much to really take it in. It makes up for it, however, with some stylish, flashy action sequences, with Whishaw and Knightley creating a convincing pair of mismatched professionals, with strong support from Lancashire as the icy, detached M type commander.
The spy thriller remains one with boundless possibilities, and Black Doves, despite its flaws, is strong addition to the staple, with an interesting mystery at its heart, with some strong performances and action to match. ***