In this edition of Additional Bite-Sized Reviews, I have had a look at one of the very best and funniest movies of the past year, a live-action remake of an animated classic, and a, for some, much-anticipated summer movie sequel. All of these are 2023 flicks that you may or may not have missed. Click below to learn more about my thoughts on the specific films.
International title: All For Four — Directed by Rasmus Heide — Screenplay by Rasmus Heide and Mick Øgendahl.
In Denmark, comedies built around a group of relative stars or established comedians are extremely popular with audiences, and one of the recent successes of these has been the Alle For (meaning ‘All for’ with the first film being All For One, the second All For Two, and so on and so forth) film series. As these comedies are about small-time criminals and their attempts to make it big, there is an obvious comparison and that is Erik Balling’s Olsen Gang film series (original title: Olsen Banden), which is a beloved and iconic Danish crime comedy film series that spawned remakes in both Norway and Sweden, as well as several spin-offs. The Olsen Gang films are some of the most popular Danish films ever, and, even though the first film was released in the 1960s, most Danish millennials even know the franchise’s formula and their iconic lines by heart. The films are laugh-out-loud funny, well-made, and always supremely well-acted by the original cast. It is clear for all to see that the filmmakers behind the Alle For films desperately want them to be this generation’s Olsen Gang, but while the Alle For films are, admittedly, extremely popular with audiences, they are constantly negatively reviewed by critics, from film to film significant members of the original cast want less and less to do with it, and neither the comedy nor the heart ever comes close to touching what Erik Balling’s films were. Alle For Fire is the latest film in the series, but, unfortunately, it doesn’t come anywhere close to improving on what came before it in the series of films.
Continue reading “Alle For Fire (2022) | REVIEW”
Directed by Simon Cellan Jones — Screenplay by David Coggeshall.
Simon Cellan Jones’ The Family Plan follows Dan Morgan (played by Mark Wahlberg), a car salesman who lives in Buffalo, New York with his wife Jessica (played by Michelle Monaghan), as well as his children Nina (played by Zoe Colletti), Kyle (played by Van Crosby), and Max (played by Iliana Norris and Vienna Norris). They seem like a normal family, but, in reality (and unbeknownst to his family), Dan isn’t the patriarch of the family’s real name and he is actually hiding from his associates from his past life as a hired assassin. When, one day, a picture of him is posted to the internet, he and his family are targeted. In an attempt to keep his family safe, he makes up an impromptu family vacation and has to keep hitmen off their backs on-the-go. Dan has to work up the courage to tell his family the truth, and, while they are on their road trip, he sees new sides of his beloved family.
Continue reading “The Family Plan (2023) | REVIEW”
Directed by Halina Reijn — Screenplay by Sarah DeLappe — Story by Kristen Roupenian.
This summer I’ve been trying to catch up on specific releases that I may have missed from last year. One of these catch-up releases is Halina Reijn’s Bodies Bodies Bodies, which piqued my interest last year but which I never got the chance to see. Until now, that is. Bodies Bodies Bodies follows Bee (played by Maria Bakalova), a young Eastern European woman, and her girlfriend Sophie (played by Amandla Stenberg), as they travel to a mansion owned by one of Sophie’s friends — David (played by Pete Davidson). Upon arrival, it becomes clear that Bee’s inclusion in the so-called ‘hurricane party’ that Sophie’s friend group — which, other than David, also includes Jordan (played by Chase Sui Wonders), Alice (played by Rachel Sennott), Jordan (played by Myha’la Herrold), and Greg (played by Lee Pace) — has set up has not been OK’d beforehand. After a round of introductions, they partake in alcohol and drugs before they decide to play a party game called — you guessed it — ‘bodies bodies bodies,’ which is a ‘murder in the dark’ whodunnit type game in which they have to figure out who the murderer in their midst is. Later, as the storm worsens, the power goes out, and they soon find one of them actually dead. Now it appears to be all real. They now have to figure out — as the saying goes — who’s done it.
Continue reading “Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022) | REVIEW”
In this edition of Additional Bite-Sized Reviews, I take a look at six series or seasons that I recently finished, four of which are Apple TV+ releases. The outliers are Netflix’s latest season of Black Mirror and the Amazon surprise hit of the year titled Jury Duty, but the remaining four series do a good job of showcasing how Apple’s series library is growing rapidly. Are any of these worth your time? Well, let’s have a look.
Continue reading “‘Hijack,’ ‘The Crowded Room,’ ‘Ted Lasso,’ ‘Silo,’ ‘Jury Duty,’ and ‘Black Mirror’ (2023) | Bite-Sized Reviews”
Directed by Juel Taylor — Screenplay by Tony Rettenmaier and Juel Taylor.
Last week, moviegoers flocked to theaters — most of them dressed in pink — and walked down the pink carpet to take part in the movie event of the year known as Barbenheimer — i.e. the simultaneous release of Greta Gerwig’s Barbie and Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer. We were lucky to have two films that were so excellent released on the same day so that people of all ages could celebrate movie theaters all over the world. However, that same weekend, there was also a third film released that cineastes ought to check out. Released on Netflix just last week, Juel Taylor’s feature directorial debut They Cloned Tyrone is a genuinely funny and stylized sci-fi comedy that I highly recommend to audiences looking for something special from the comfort of their own home.
Continue reading “They Cloned Tyrone (2023) | REVIEW”
Directed by Greta Gerwig (Little Women) — Screenplay by Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach (Marriage Story).
This weekend, the movie event of the year finally arrived with the release of the escapist comedy and social satire picture Barbie and the dark and dense historical epic and biopic Oppenheimer. The simultaneous release of two films from modern auteurs Greta Gerwig and Christopher Nolan couldn’t just be counterprogramming. Rather, the internet decided that it had to be a meme (Barbenheimer, it’s been dubbed). Theater owners all over the world ought to be rejoicing at the internet’s impromptu online public support for a double billing of two films that in most ways couldn’t be farther apart. Moviegoing audiences are also in luck, because it just so happens that both films are terrific. Although the very pink and mostly lighthearted IP-driven comedy from Greta Gerwig may, from the outset, seem trivial when compared to the adult-oriented three-hour Christopher Nolan epic about our ability to destroy ourselves, the Barbie movie does have quite a bit to say, and it would be wrong to disregard it as a cynical cash grab or a marketing exercise. This one is as fun and lighthearted as it is critical.
Continue reading “Barbie (2023) | REVIEW”
Directed by Christopher Landon — Screenplay by Christopher Landon.
Christopher Landon is a rather interesting up-and-coming horror filmmaker. Reportedly scheduled to remake Frank Marshall’s Arachnophobia, Landon has made a career off taking well-trod genre fare and giving it a modern feel and often with a comedic slant. Among other things, he co-wrote D. J. Caruso’s Disturbia (a thriller that is so close to Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window in the concept that it led to a lawsuit) and several Paranormal Activity films, before he became a household name for horror film fans by writing and directing his Happy Death Day films (slasher comedies that runs with the time-loop concept from Harold Ramis’ Groundhog Day) and Freaky, 2020s horror comedy reinterpretation of the classic body swap story Freaky Friday. His latest film, We Have A Ghost, is similarly placed squarely in the horror-comedy genre-blend and it, too, wears its inspirations on its sleeves. Most of Landon’s previous films as a director have been decent-to-good, and although We Have A Ghost doesn’t reach its full potential, it’s still a pretty decent but derivative little family film.
Continue reading “REVIEW: We Have A Ghost (2023)”
Directed by Rian Johnson — Screenplay by Rian Johnson.
In 2019, Looper and The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson released his original ‘whodunnit’ ensemble crime mystery Knives Out. It was a huge success as it received critical acclaim and notable Golden Globe, BAFTA, and Oscar nominations. The film also helped to bring new life to the ‘whodunnit’ genre. It was so successful that this year there are several of those stories including See How They Run and the Apple-series The Afterparty. The massive success also led to a bidding war for Johnson’s Benoit Blanc-led Knives Out sequels. That bidding war was won by Netflix (they paid a whopping $469 million) and they have released its first sequel today just in time for Christmas. It brings me great joy to report that Glass Onion is almost exactly as good as the original film that preceded it, even though it no longer feels quite as fresh.
Continue reading “REVIEW: Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022)”
Direction and Screenplay by Zach Cregger.
Zach Cregger’s Barbarian, one of the most entertaining surprise hits of the year, follows Tess Marshall (played by Georgina Campbell), as she arrives at a remote house that she has booked, only to find out that someone else, Keith (played by Bill Skarsgård), is already staying there due to the house having been double-booked. When Tess finds out that there isn’t really an open motel close by, she has to decide if she feels comfortable staying at the house with this total stranger. What she doesn’t know is that the house isn’t exactly what it seems.
Continue reading “REVIEW: Barbarian (2022)”