A disgraced mogul fights to get her old status back, with the reluctant help of her former PA. Inconsistent comedy with an over-reliance on semi-improvised insult battles rather than having a script that’s organically funny. A lesser McCarthy vehicle.
Month: April 2018
Baywatch (2017, dir. Seth Gordon)
A disgraced Olympic swimmer becomes a lifeguard. Patchy and overlong reprise of the 90s TV show. Some funny moments, but they’re spread over a thin plot, iffy CG and a reliance on beach bodies and grossout/insult humour to carry the day.
Want a second opinion? Here’s Xussia’s take.
Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie (2017, dir. David Soren)
Comics-loving best friends hypnotise their headteacher into becoming a superhero. Splendid animation – based on the Dav Pilkey books – that delivers a barrage of bottom jokes and a touching portrayal of childhood friendship. Recommended.
Resident Evil: The Last Chapter (2016, dir. Paul WS Anderson)
Alice returns to Raccoon City to face down Dr Isaacs, lured by the promise of a vaccine to the T-Virus. The sixth instalment of this midlist franchise is surprisingly feisty, with bags of action and some good lines. For fans only, maybe, but they won’t be disappointed.
The Belko Experiment (2016, dir. Greg McLean)
Employees of a mysterious company are compelled to murder each other. Would-be black comedy better at delivering gloopy kills than in having much to say. Neither funny or subversive enough; it gets tiresome before 90 minutes are up.
Another perspective? Here’s Xussia’s view.
The Rezort (2015, dir. Steve Barker)
Visitors to a zombie safari island resort face danger when park security is compromised. Perfunctory undead spin on Jurassic Park with no surprises, little in the way of fun, and only one decent jumpscare. Meh.
World War Z (2013, dir. Marc Forster)
A UN investigator tracks a zombie virus to its source. The z-movie as big-budget spectacular; not quite action-adventure, not quite horror. A series of linked set-pieces, and not bad, though not for fans demanding a faithful adaptation of its source novel.
King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017, dir. Guy Ritchie)
A fantasy-oriented retelling. The second act is fine swashbuckling nonsense, but this version is stuck with lumpen first and third acts which set up unnecessarily complex (and irrelevant) backstory. Still, some fun to be had, and there’s one very neat idea about Excalibur.
Day of the Dead: Bloodline (2018, dir. Hèctor Hernández Vicens)
A military leader clashes with an idealistic doctor in the aftermath of a zombie outbreak. This second loose remake of Romero’s Day of the Dead adds little but a photogenic cast and some reasonable gore FX among the usual tropes and poor character decisions.
The Dark Tower (2017, dir. Nikolaj Arcel)
A fatherless boy is hunted as both the potential saviour and destructor of the multiverse. Impressively-designed and well shot, this is nevertheless an oddly perfunctory and rushed movie, cherrypicking 90 minutes of action from the Stephen King fantasy cycle.
Fancy another point of view? Here’s Lemonsquirtle’s review.
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