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Jul. 18th, 2015
Films round-up
Jul. 18th, 2015 01:02 pmSpy - I didn't expect to enjoy this, but it was surprisingly good. Melissa McCarthy plays a CIA desk agent suddenly thrust into the field and out of her depth, with what I expected to be contrived and painfully awkward consequences. But the cast pull it off magnificently, with McCarthy a sympathetic heroine, split between the appeal of getting to be a cool spy and impatience at the absurdities she encounters. Jason Statham in particular has fun sending himself up as the ridiculously intense man-of-action. Who'd have expected to see him and Miranda Hart in a film together? The clash of everyday and action movie is where much of the humour comes from. Spy is funny, cruel, bitchy, slapstick, irreverant and far better than it has any right to be. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say it's way better than Kingsman.
Mr Holmes - Ian McKellan plays the infamous detective, losing his memory at the end of his life and trying to recall the final case which led him to give up detective work. The film flashes between the two time periods. It should have been brilliant, but actually it's a bit sedate and dull, feeling like a Sunday TV drama rather than a film. The stories and the supporting cast are small and low-key. There's no Watson or other familiar characters, neither the flashback nor the contemporary "mysteries" are particularly compelling, and overall it just doesn't feel particularly Holmes-y. Ian McKellen does well with the part he's given, as you'd expect, but this should have been so much more.
Minions - Respect! Power! Banana! You can't fail to have noticed that the Minions are back in this 60s prequel. Cue a lot of silly and entertaining misadventures (and an impressively realistic cartoon recreation of London). The trailers slightly spoiled this film - There were so many that if you've seen them all, then you've already seen the first 15 minutes of the film. The three main characters are likeable enough, but as you might expect, Minions work rather better as background characters in Gru's adventures than they do as stars of their own story. And sadly Scarlet Overkill is no Gru - supposedly the world's most respected evil villainess, but all she wants is to feel like a princess. She's just not... despicable enough ;o)
Terminator: Genisys - This film is based almost entirely around one gag - Arnie's Terminator as Sarah Connor's father figure, disapproving of her new boyfirend, Kyle Reese. It's not the most promising of concepts, but with a series based around re-writing history, the next logical step seems to be for it to re-write its own. It's all very wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey (Matt Smith even puts in a cameo appearance), but that can't really hide that the plot and characterisations are a complete mess. The new baddie Terminator makes no sense whatsoever, and Jai Courtney as Kyle Reese is no Michael Biehn. On the upside, Emilia Clarke is a no-nonsense, kick-ass Sarah Connor, almost doing Linda Hamilton proud. Genisys veers from clever and well-crafted nods to the first two films in some places, and shameless, ham-fisted re-hashes in others. Ultimately, it's another redundant entry in a franchise that's long since had its Judgement Day.
Mr Holmes - Ian McKellan plays the infamous detective, losing his memory at the end of his life and trying to recall the final case which led him to give up detective work. The film flashes between the two time periods. It should have been brilliant, but actually it's a bit sedate and dull, feeling like a Sunday TV drama rather than a film. The stories and the supporting cast are small and low-key. There's no Watson or other familiar characters, neither the flashback nor the contemporary "mysteries" are particularly compelling, and overall it just doesn't feel particularly Holmes-y. Ian McKellen does well with the part he's given, as you'd expect, but this should have been so much more.
Minions - Respect! Power! Banana! You can't fail to have noticed that the Minions are back in this 60s prequel. Cue a lot of silly and entertaining misadventures (and an impressively realistic cartoon recreation of London). The trailers slightly spoiled this film - There were so many that if you've seen them all, then you've already seen the first 15 minutes of the film. The three main characters are likeable enough, but as you might expect, Minions work rather better as background characters in Gru's adventures than they do as stars of their own story. And sadly Scarlet Overkill is no Gru - supposedly the world's most respected evil villainess, but all she wants is to feel like a princess. She's just not... despicable enough ;o)
Terminator: Genisys - This film is based almost entirely around one gag - Arnie's Terminator as Sarah Connor's father figure, disapproving of her new boyfirend, Kyle Reese. It's not the most promising of concepts, but with a series based around re-writing history, the next logical step seems to be for it to re-write its own. It's all very wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey (Matt Smith even puts in a cameo appearance), but that can't really hide that the plot and characterisations are a complete mess. The new baddie Terminator makes no sense whatsoever, and Jai Courtney as Kyle Reese is no Michael Biehn. On the upside, Emilia Clarke is a no-nonsense, kick-ass Sarah Connor, almost doing Linda Hamilton proud. Genisys veers from clever and well-crafted nods to the first two films in some places, and shameless, ham-fisted re-hashes in others. Ultimately, it's another redundant entry in a franchise that's long since had its Judgement Day.