I have recently taken up reading more. It takes me away from scrolling on my phone, and to be honest, it has made me feel a whole lot better about myself. One of the books I read was George Orwell’s immortal Animal Farm. Written in 1945, it was an allegory of Stalinism set on a…
Tag: comedy
The Invite
One of the favourite approaches to filmmaking of late is making the audience feel uncomfortable. The Drama is a perfect example, as we watched a couple heading to the altar, but a secret spins their world around. You find yourself hiding in your hands as you watch things spiral out of control. Now we have…
Minions & Monsters
The Minions have always been the best thing about the Despicable Me movies and the introduction to the Illumination studios. For some reason, their standalone films have always struggled and were never as funny as the short bursts of Minion action in the Gru movies. Now we have their third film, Minions & Monsters, and…
Toy Story 5
About half way through watching Toy Story 5, my thoughts went to what made Toy Story 3 such a classic, and in particular, that moment when the floodgates were open and tears streamed down my face, and I wondered how a simple scene in which a group of toys, facing their ultimate doom and just…
Scary Movie
The legendary film critic Barry Norman once said of a movie, “Laugh? I thought I’d never start!” That is exactly how I felt about this sixth instalment of the spoof comedy (?) that I thought had died a death after number 5 back in 2013. Now the Wayans, who made the first two films, are…
Masters Of The Universe
Toy company Mattel have done pretty well out of their He-Man toys. First, they became a huge success with their figurines, which led to the popular cartoon series in the 80s. Then, Cannon Films produced the cult-favourite live-action version back in 1987, with Dolph Lundgren as He-Man. Now, just when you thought the characters were…
The Christophers
Given that director Steven Soderbergh announced his retirement from filmmaking in 2013, he has not worked since. In the past year, he has made four films: the creepy horror Presence, the underrated and underseen Black Bag, and, still to come, a documentary, John Lennon: The Last Interview. His latest, The Christophers, is probably his quietest…
The Sheep Detectives
Never judge a book by its cover. When you hear of a title like The Sheep Detectives, you may think that it is going to be dire, another kids’ movie that adults will have to endure to keep their little ones quiet. Well, think again. The Sheep Detectives is one of the big surprises this…
The Devil Wears Prada 2
Some films don’t have sequels for a reason. The original works as a standalone, and it doesn’t need another film. In most cases, the sequel brings nothing to the table and thus causes a small backlash to the film that first captured everyone’s imagination. I can safely say that The Devil Wears Prada, a mid-budget…
California Schemin’
James McAvoy has established himself as a reliable actor, whose credits have included The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, Atonement and Split. Now he’s taking on his next challenge, behind the camera as director of California Schemin’, based on the incredible true story of how two Dundee lads took on the record industry. Based…
The Drama
Could film-makers please stop making anxiety-ridden, packed movies, as my nerves cannot cope anymore. With films like Marty Supreme and If I Had Legs I’d Kick You out in the world, I often leave the cinema frazzled. Now we can add The Drama to the collection. It was certainly the worst of the group, starting…
The Super Mario Galaxy Movie
You know that a film is in trouble when the most entertaining thing about it is the company ident at the beginning, where the Minions are playing a version of Super Mario Bros. to tell us this is an Illumination production. Yes, we are back with a sequel to the Super Mario Bros. Movie from…
Stu Loves Film 