Vivo: Heart’s in the right place, songs are fun, well animated, but a little hollow, and has one big issue in Gabi, a consistently irritating character who practically embodies trying too hard, right down to her messy, too-much-going-on, faintly 90s ‘edgy game mascot’ character design. Add to the ever-growing list of flawed SPA films. 6/10
Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings: This one could be added to my Overrated Movies blog. Looks good, well directed with some arresting camerawork, always good to see a different culture being represented (the abundance of Mandarin dialogue is an especially welcome touch) and briskly enjoyable to a degree, but still very much a formula Marvel movie, complete with one of their least engaging heroes. Awkwafina enlivens things, not least in getting to be the first to say ‘vagina’ in a Marvel movie, and so does a returning character from an earlier Marvel film, but overall unengaging. 7/10
Night at the Museum trilogy: I recall watching the first in the series when it came out, and finding it a little lacklustre, a Hollywood family film by numbers. Rewatching it, I discovered it’s actually quite a bit better than that, managing to be funny and clever and engaging with only one lapse into cheap humour. The sequels are even better, with again only one lapse in the last, and some touches that border on the subversive, like their treatment of General Custer. Really good fun throughout. 8/10
Red Notice: Glossy and slick and stylish, and sporadically amusing, but self-satisfied, and not nearly as clever as it thinks it is. Both Reynolds and Johnson are basically coasting on their usual film personas. Gadot is good but not given enough, and is a little undercut come the end. There’s a glib touch of the frat boy in its attitude, too, seen most clearly in a Reynolds line about ‘adult virgins’. Hard to know if this was meant as a homage to classic heist movies, or a parody of them; either way, it’s unsatisfying. 5/10
Wonder Park: The first film I’ve ever seen to have no Director credit, the result of the person originally in the post being fired for inappropriate behaviour, and no-one else wanting the credit. The latter is no surprise, as while its a gorgeous-looking film, it really lacks in the story and character department, and no amount of straining, on-the-nose sentiment, reaching a peak at the climax when the park is rebuilding and the main character feels the need to breathlessly exclaim as much, can overcome that. Tonally awry, insincere, and empty. 4/10
Uglydolls: Familiar themes, and it owes a lot to the Toy Story films, but has plenty of energy, great visuals, not least in the textures of the titular dolls, and good, catchy songs. Enjoyable enough while it lasts. 7/10
Free Guy: A serious surprise. Rides high in pretty much every aspect, with noticeably less crudity, violence and language than most PG-13 blockbusters (a jarring f-bomb aside; Hollywood really needs to learn that just because you can have one in your PG-13 movie, doesn’t mean you have to have one, even if it’s apparently written into Ryan Reynolds’ contract). Funny, sharp, with genuine heart, and serious fun from start to finish. 8/10
Storks: Rewatched it for the first time since it came out, and it’s still a delight. Zany, pin sharp, laugh-out-loud funny, and plenty of heart. The wolves are a particular highlight, subverting the usual tropes in all kinds of gleefully silly ways. Grin-inducingly good. 8/10
Tomorrowland: Here’s a first – an underwhelming Brad Bird movie. For all its technical pizazz and ambition, it’s weak in the last areas you’d expect a Brad Bird film to be weak: plot and character. There simply isn’t enough substance to connect, so it’s pretty, but oddly inert, and almost entirely without the usual Bird spirit. 6/10
Pokemon: Detective Pikachu: a solid, well-made, consistently engaging family film, with that extremely rare thing, a sincere Ryan Reynolds performance. I especially appreciate the total absence of crude humour. 7/10
Foxy Musings 