Ella McCay (2025)

Written and directed by James L. Brooks, and with a cast that includes Emma Mackey, Jamie Lee Curtis, Albert Brooks, Jack Lowden, Julie Kavner, Woody Harrelson, Jack Lowden, Kumail Nanjiani, and Ayo Edebiri, I was hoping to enjoy Ella McCay. I'd already heard some luke-warm reviews of it, at best, but still thought that it couldn't really be bad with the talent involved. Not for the first time . . . I was wrong.

This is all about a young woman (McCay, of course, played by Mackey) about to become the governor of her state. She's idealistic and hoping to effect some real change, but events conspire against her. Problems loom large with the reappearance of her father (Harrelson), the unhappiness of her husband (Lowden), and the ongoing depressive state of her younger brother (Casey, played by Spike Fearn). There are some good people on her side (her aunt, Helen, played by Curtis, and her secretary, Estelle, played by Kavner), but they may not be able to help Ella when she finds herself becoming cornered by a very determined and scheming reporter who wants to blackmail her into giving him some priority access.

I don't have the enthusiasm to go into too much detail here. Ella McCay feels sadly pointless. It gives us a character who should clearly be supported, and celebrated, but then spends most of the runtime breaking down various parts of her life as if proving some kind of point about how good she remains in the face of overwhelming awfulness. Bizarrely, despite the relatively light and fluffy way the material is presented, this is as much a film about someone shaped by past traumas and present abuses as more extreme films I could start to list here. It's not really a bitter pill with a sugar coating, but more of a teeny tiny sugar core in the middle of a horribly bitter pill.

I know the main point that Brooks wants to make here, and it's one well worth making in the current climate, but he lacks the ability to navigate through territory that needs a much steadier hand at the wheel. I know that's an unexpected thing to say about his direction, but not only is this a comedy lacking enough laughs, it's also a commentary on the modern political landscape without the courage to get close to any of the targets it takes aim at.

Mackey is okay in the lead role, although it's not the best performance from someone who has yet to fully win me over. Lowden suffers from the fact that his character is so easy to dislike, even when he's apparently trying to be nice. Both Curtis and Kavner fare much better, and both benefit from receiving some of the best moments in the film, and Harrelson is very enjoyable as the man who can't convincingly apologise to people when his actions fail to back up his words. Nanjiani is a highlight, even if sorely underused, as is Edebiri. Albert Brooks is good fun, Fearn does well with his scenes, and there are one or two other supporting players who manage to stealthily steal a scene away from the main stars.

I almost forgot that I disliked this, that's how much the cast helps the material, but I really didn't have a good time. It's forgettable, at best, and I suspect many will like it even less than I did. At least it clocks in at just under two hours (the runtime is actually 115 minutes). That's about the most positive note I think I can end on. It's saved by the cast, and it clocks in at just under two hours.

4/10

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Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024)

Ghostbusters is forty years old now. Forty years old. It is, in my view, an enduring classic, and one of my favourite blockbuster comedies. And yet . . . the fact that it IS now forty years old makes it all the stranger to see how much of it is repeated and/or repurposed in this latest release, officially the fifth movie in a franchise that has maintained a presence in our pop culture thanks to the various movies, videogames, toys, cartoons, etc.

FIRE STATION!

There is probably a right way and a wrong way to write a proper review of Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, but I hope doing things in the wrong way will highlight how the film itself was so mishandled.

SLIMER!

Some time has passed since the events of the last movie. Our main characters (played by Finn Wolfhard, Mckenna Grace, Paul Rudd, and Carrie Coon) are now based in New York, much to the chagrin of the current mayor (played by William Atherton, reprising the character of Walter Peck, of course). But the containment system is perilously close to being overloaded, a big new threat is looming, and the character played by Grace ends up spending a lot of her time with a friendly ghost (Melody, played by Emily Alyn Lind).

LIBRARY GHOST!

Co-written once again by Gil Kenan and Jason Reitman, with the former also being allowed to direct this time around, it’s easy to see why certain choices were made here, and just as easy to see how this film could have been greatly improved. It’s too busy creating moments that will remind you of the first movie that it forgets to make good use of most of the main characters, and the decent finale is a case of too little too late when viewers have slogged through the mess preceding it.

DAN AYKROYD!

There’s some good stuff here, much better than the return of a familiar villain we got in the last movie. The opening sequence is great, everything looks set to be spectacular and thrilling, and then it is all largely abandoned in favour of callbacks and cameos, which is all the more frustrating when you get a treat like the new character, Lars, played by James Acaster with a hairstyle not entirely dissimilar to the one sported by Egon Spengler in The Real Ghostbusters. I also have to say that Lind is fantastic as the forlorn and regret-filled Melody.

STAY-PUFT MARSHMALLOW MAN!

It is hard to give my opinion on a cast who are so often wasted in their roles. Grace remains a very watchable talent, but her sub-plot here ensures that her character is unwisely kept moody and lonely until the third act. Acaster is a fantastic addition, it’s nice to see some more of Ernie Hudson, Patton Oswalt comes along to be Mr. Exposition, and Kumail Nanjiani isn’t given a chance to be as funny as we all know he can be. As for the other familiar faces, they are all pretty unnecessary.

BILL MURRAY!

This is a series that seems intent on restricting itself to tales that are now just frames to hang a load of nostalgia on. It’s not a good approach, and this review emulated the structure of the film. You have everything punctuated by a cameo that is supposed to bring some extra happiness to the viewers, but it doesn’t work when there is no other reason for those cameos to happen. It’s the equivalent of some SNL sketch being hate-crashed by a celebrity who just comments on their own celebrity and their bemusement at being on SNL. That could be amusing, but you would soon tire of it if it was every SNL sketch. And you will soon tire of it here.

BILL MURRAY AGAIN!

Each time I think this movie series cannot get any worse I end up being proven wrong. It has become a depressing cycle of ever-diminishing returns now, and I am always sucked in by the trailer and the optimistic idea that “maybe this time they will get it right”. This is the worst yet, and actually feels embarrassingly desperate at times.

I will still watch another one, but you may as well search for my spark of hope in the ecto-containment unit, because that is well and truly dead after watching this.

3/10

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Dolittle (2020)

Here is a perfect example of a film that, while not necessarily as bad as the very worst of them, stands out in the way it saps some fun out of the central concept and makes everything worse by over-reliance on CGI to make everything possible.

Robert Downey Jr. plays the man who can talk to the animals, and he has decided that his Dolittle should have a strong Welsh accent. He also doesn't want to deal with people any more, spending many years locked away after the loss of his adventuring wife. He is forced to change, however, when young Tommy Stubbins (Harry Collett) sneaks in to his home, carrying with him a squirrel that he accidentally shot. Dolittle is also forced to accept a request to help save the life of Queen Victoria, who has been struck down by a mysterious malady that can only be cured by the fruit of a tree that nobody has ever managed to reach. It's time for an adventure, and Dolittle has plenty of animals to help him on his quest. He also has at least one person, Dr. Blair Müdfly (Michael Sheen ), trying to stop him from succeeding.

After a slightly unsteady start, scenes giving viewers a quick summary of the life of Dr. Dolittle and then showing him talking to animals IN animal noises before we then get to the more enjoyable format of Dolittle and the animals all talking in English, Dolittle becomes a decidedly okay bit of family entertainment. The animals are enjoyably exotic (with three of the main characters being a parrot, voiced by Emma Thompson, a gorilla, voiced by Rami Malek, and a polar bear, voiced by John Cena),  things look bright and lively enough, and there's a sense that the whole adventure could be a lot of fun.

It's a shame that the script, written by Doug Mand, Dan Gregor, and director Stephen Gaghan, seems to have been written with the idea that the visuals and lead performances will carry everything along. The lead performances, voice acting aside, don't feel as strong as they could be. Downey Jr. may be having fun, I guess, but he doesn't feel right for the role, as much as I often like his onscreen presence. Sheen is more enjoyable, a proper pantomime villain, and Antonio Banderas is a welcome addition, although not involved for long enough. The same can be said for Jim Broadbent. Young Collett does fine, but he's really there to be caught up in the middle of the animal shenanigans. And while it is a bit of a coup to rope in such a variety of big names, including Ralph Fiennes, Tom Holland, and Selena Gomez, for the animals, few of them really add to their roles, unlike the standout, an ostrich voiced by Kumail Nanjiani.

It's also a shame that the makers of the film have decided to let the visuals carry so much of it when the visuals are, despite the fact that some may find me overly critical here, a bloody mess. So many scenes lose any sense of magic because it feels like CGI interacting with CGI, against a CGI background, with some more CGI being used to add flourishes here and there. I wouldn't mind if it was better, and some of the scenes have to contain what I assume is a lot of seamless CGI complementing the action, but some moments are jarring in how obviously fake they look. There's one scene in which Tommy is being taken on the back of a giraffe to catch a departing ship that looks, well, it looks as if it could have been lifted directly from some high-quality BBC programme from the early 2000s.

Younger viewers should find enough to enjoy, and there's an amusing fart gag during the finale that will prompt giggles, but this is a horrible attempt to reinvigorate a property that was handled better back in the late '90s. Maybe we'll get something better next time, when someone more suitable is put in the lead role.

4/10

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Eternals (2021)

If you want some wholesome and enjoyable content to make you smile then you should check out the many photos of Lia McHugh on her IMDb page. Most of them have clearly been out there by McHugh herself, complete with contextualising text descriptions that show how much she loves her acting career.

If you can spend two hours browsing that selection of photos then you will probably have a better time than you would if you actually watched Eternals, a Marvel movie that feels more redundant than any others we have seen so far.

Described as Earth’s first superheroes, Eternals are a group of people with different powers who work together to help care for the human race. They can only ever intervene when humans are being attacked by monsters called deviants, which conveniently explains why they never tried to help when “the snap” happened, and most of their time is spent just observing people and trying to act like one of them. There hasn’t been any deviant attack for a long, long time. And then there is one, one unlike the others. This deviant may be able to absorb powers while it takes lives. And it may reveal a truth about the Eternals that they will struggle to accept.

Although it’s not actually a bad movie, in many ways, I can feel my enthusiasm for this film ebbing away with every word I write. There is a mildly interesting development in the second half that takes things in a slightly unexpected direction, but the end result is still a group of people dealing with some giant CGI. What’s worse is that the more enjoyable characters seem to be too quickly dismissed from the action.

Director Chloé Zhao, who also helped write the screenplay (Patrick Burleigh and Ryan Firpo being the other writers on this), does what is expected of her, trying to liven things up enough with an action sequence here and there to distract from the fact that these are the dullest superheroes we have seen in a long time. Sadly, she cannot do enough to make up for the central problem.

At least the cast help, although the lead being played by Gemma Chan leads to the big problem of, well, the lead being played by Gemma Chan. Richard Madden does a bit better, as does the aforementioned McHugh, but the best cast members are Angelina Jolie, Brian Tyree Henry, and Kumail Nanjiani. Barry Keoghan plays an interesting character, but plays him as if he can barely be bothered to stay awake. I don’t blame him, it’s a tough job to stay energised with such a mix of deja vu and plodding mediocrity. Even Salma Hayek cannot help, although her relatively small amount of screentime was better than no Hayek at all.

There is a nice cross-section of characters here (Lauren Ridloff is a deaf Flash-like character who speaks in sign language), but the bad outweighs the good. By far. With the pacing issues, the inability to engage viewers properly, and the tired feeling the material has, I have to say that this is the weakest big MCU movie so far. I hope it is an anomaly.

4/10

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Netflix And Chill: The Lovebirds (2020)

Director Michael Showalter reteams with star Kumail Nanjiani (after their success with The Big Sick) for this comedy thriller that concerns a couple (Nanjiani and Issa Rae) who have the potential end of their relationship interrupted by an untimely murder. Not that there's ever such a thing as a timely murder.

Rae and Nanjiani are two solid leads, even as we meet them in the midst of growing tension. While in their car, a stranger (Paul Sparks) commandeers their vehicle, using it to kill a man on a bicycle that he was chasing, and then flees. Leilani (Rae) and Jibran (Nanjiani) do not want to stick around at the crime scene. They know things look bad for them, which means they need to show some initiative and try to find the killer. This brings them into contact with other bad people (such as Edie, played by Anna Camp), forces them to make up a story as they get friends helping them, and obviously has them reappraising how they view one another.

Written by Aaron Abrams and Brendan Gall, The Lovebirds is a film that doesn't do enough to help the talented leads. The main premise is very familiar, and could be used to add on a whole load of jokes, but it's all put together in a way that feels very paint-by-numbers. There's no tension here, which wouldn't be so bad if the laughs kept coming, but there's also not enough comedy, so little of it that the leads feel restricted by the way the script doesn't let them be as funny as fans know they can be.

Showalter goes through the motions with his direction, but he is equally responsible for failing his leads. Set-pieces are too low-key, the pacing feels off, despite the film coming in at just under the 90-minute mark, and the plot just feels like it's getting in the way of the characters being able to act in a way that could be much more entertaining.

I feel a bit patronising going on about how good both Rae and Najiani are, despite being hampered by the material, but they make the movie watchable. I have liked Nanjiani for a good few years now, but I wasn't familiar with Rae, who works wonderfully both on her own and alongside her co-star. Sparks is fine, with limited screentime, and Camp does her best to steal the scenes that she features in, and Andrene Ward-Hammond is a typically stolid cop trying to catch a criminal as some innocent people complicate the matter more than they should.

I did laugh, now and then, and there's a fun little punchline at the very end of the movie to pay off a small gag from earlier, but I spent most of the runtime just willing The Lovebirds to be better, for me and for the cast. It doesn't manage that. It just manages to be above average. Just. Not far enough above average to make it worth recommending though.

6/10

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Men In Black: International (2019)

None of the trailers made me want to see this latest Men In Black movie. The stars didn't do anything for me either. As much as I like both Hemsworth and both Thompsons, they just didn't feel like they could do enough to stop me from missing Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones (or even Josh Brolin). And then I started to hear more and more negative comments from people who had seen it. Yet I ended up at my local cinema to see it, despite all of these marks against it.

And I'm glad. Men In Black: International is another fun sci-fi comedy in the series. I have enjoyed all of these movies, even the oft-maligned second one, and am glad to spend some more time in this world. It's a fun place, often overflowing with imagination and wonderful little touches, and one that consistently works well running parallel to the everyday world around us.

This time around, the MIB are facing a danger from a species known as The Hive, who can take on the identity of other people once they have access to their DNA. There's also an incredibly powerful weapon to be kept in safe hands, all of this while Tessa Thompson (as M) tries to learn on the job during her probationary period with Chris Hemsworth (H). M is a bit of a natural in her new role, H is a top agent who appears to be getting more and more reckless and slapdash on each mission, able to coast along on former glory and the protection of his mentor, Liam Neeson (playing T). You also have Emma Thompson as Agent O, the head of MIB, Rebecca Ferguson as an arms dealer who used to date Hemsworth, Rafe Spall as Agent C, determined to bring down those he sees as playing too fast and loose with the rules, and Kumail Nanjiani as the voice of a small alien named Pawny.

Look, there are other ways I would have liked to see this play out. Other directions for the series that seemed so ridiculous that they also seemed more intriguing (that Jump Street crossover could have been great). The two biggest strikes against MIBI (as none of the cool kids are calling it) are the fact that a) it plays everything a bit too safe and b) it's not Men In Black.

Director F. Gary Gray has a filmography full of solid outings, but very few of them are amazing. He's a dependable pair of hands (in fact, from 2000 onwards you could view him as an African American version of Ron Howard, with the exception of the grim violence in Law Abiding Citizen). He does fine here, once again not really stamping any identity on the proceedings. That's fine though, this film is MIB-branded, and it at least feels consistent with the others in terms of the look, sound, and score.

The biggest problem comes from the script, by Matt Holloway and Art Marcum. Not only do they forget to include enough decent laughs, although there's a lot of fun to be had in the interplay between most of the main characters, but they flag up a couple of major plot developments with the structuring of the movie, starting everything off with a couple of big scenes that you just know are going to become relevant again in the third act. And isn't "pulling a David Ayer" (as I am calling it now, you'll know what I mean when you see it) already a worn out plot beat?

It's a good job that the script is being delivered by a charismatic cast. Hemsworth and Thompson still work well together (although they had a lot more fun with their last main pairing, Thor Ragnarok), Emma Thompson is a treat as the exasperated and wise boss, and Rafe Spall is admirably happy to be the "bad guy" who knows that something is going on, despite being unable to pinpoint exactly what. Neeson doesn't do much, but he does it with his usual stoic manner, and Ferguson makes a great impression with her one main scene, complemented by some interesting VFX work. Nanjiani has the perfect voice for his character, which is very cute and will most definitely please younger viewers.

As a completist, I would have probably picked this up for my own collection at some point anyway. So I'm glad that it's not as bad as some have made it out to be. It's just a shame that there isn't more packed in here, in terms of one-liners and memorable set-pieces. I came out of the cinema with a smile on my face but no great moments to single out as highlights.

6/10

You can buy the movie here.
Americans can buy it here.

The Lego Ninjago Movie (2017)

Let me be upfront from the very beginning here, if LEGO did a version of one of the movies I hate most (e.g. Elephant by Gus Van Sant) then I would watch it, I would enjoy it, and it would be something I would buy. I grew up with tubs of mismatched LEGO, I continue to look on eagerly if I see LEGO sets being built by small children I might be able to bump out of the way and hold back while I work with the bricks, and I have been mightily impressed by the almost all of the LEGO movies I have seen so far, both the cinema releases and the smaller titles (they have been doing better DC films than the proper DC moviemakers for a few years now).

I didn't really know what Ninjago was, and I'm still not sure. Basically, it seems to be some kids who turn into ninjas when they need to battle evil. It's also the name of the city in which they live. That city keeps coming under threat from a villain named Garmadon (voiced by Justin Theroux), which keeps Green Ninja (voiced by Dave Franco) and the rest of the good ninja group very busy. Green Ninja is also known as Lloyd, when not hidden in his suit, and Lloyd is actually the son of Garmadon. Uh oh.

Directed by Charlie Bean, Paul Fisher, and Bob Logan, The LEGO Ninjago Movie keeps the fun and laughs coming thick and fast throughout, with one or two inventive action sequences doing enough to keep the main characters in peril as they learn some life lessons. Everyone involved in the LEGO movie universe seems to understand the universal appeal of it, and how to make the most of it for that brick-centric visual style and the many brilliant gags. The script here, written by Logan, Fisher, William and Tom Wheeler, Jared Stern, and John Whittington, makes the most of the strained father-son relationship at the centre of everything, while also utilising the tropes of martial arts movies (Jackie Chan is a lot of fun as the wise old master).

All of the voice cast do well, although some are immediately more recognisable than others. The leads, obviously, and Kumail Nanjiani and Michael Pena were the ones I already knew, as well as Olivia Munn, (as Koko, Lloyd's mother) but Fred Armisen, Abbi Jacobson, and Zach Woods also lend their voices to some of the main characters, and all are good in their roles.

Once again mixing in some live-action elements with the main animated section of the film, this might not be as good as The LEGO Movie, and might even fall short of the level of fun of The LEGO Batman Movie, but that is just a reminder of how great those two films were. This one is very good, and manages to be very good without any one main identifier (e.g. Benny wanting his spaceship in The LEGO Movie, and, well, Batman in the The LEGO Batman Movie).

I am not sure, as of this moment, what we can expect next from the world of LEGO movies. I am only sure of one thing; If they build it, I will watch.

8/10

Pick up the disc here.
Americans can buy it here.

The Big Sick (2017)

Written by Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon (husband and wife), The Big Sick is a romantic comedy loosely based on how . . . Kumail Nanjiani met and fell in love with Emily V. Gordon. What could have seemed smug and self-indulgent ends up being something fully deserving of all the accolades it has received over the past few months. On the poster and Blu-ray cover you can see phrases like "easily one of the best rom-coms of the decade", "romantic and hilarious", and "sparkling and heartfelt", as well as a few five-star ratings to help sell it. And all of those statements and ratings, originating from sources as varied as the likes of Variety and Glamour, are absolutely correct.

Very much in line with the other films that have been helped into creation by producer Judd Apatow, this is a mix of comedy and drama that gives characters room to breath in a two-hour runtime. Unlike some of the other Apatow movies I could mention, however, this doesn't ever feel as if it is overstaying its welcome.

That is down to the main performances, and the fact that Nanjiani and Gordon have such a great story to spin into cinema gold. Director Michael Showalter doesn't concern himself too much with adding any bells or whistles, happy to rely on the characters and the dialogue, which is a smart decision on his part.

Although Nanjiani happily plays himself onscreen, his wife is portrayed by Zoe Kazan. Kazan is fine, although she spends a large portion of the movie offscreen, or visible on a hospital bed (hence the title, the plot is basically Kumail and Emily having a big fight and then Emily ending up hospitalised and placed in a medically induced coma, which can make it a bit awkward to kiss and make up). Holly Hunter and Ray Romano play Emily's worried parents, and they are both excellent, which is something I never thought I would say about Romano, considering I assumed Everybody Loves Raymond was a deliberately ironic sitcom about one of the most annoying men on the planet. Anupam Kher and Zenobia Shroff are both very good, playing Kumail's parents, and Adeel Akhtar is Kumail's brother, Naveed. Other comics are represented by Bo Burnham, Aidy Bryant, and Kurt Braunohler, and there's nobody in the supporting cast who drops the ball, including many not mentioned here.

There aren't any major set-pieces here, and few of the laughs aren't BIG laughs, but the laughs are surprisingly consistent, entwined nicely with the drama and the heart of the whole thing. This is from the script and the presentation of the material, but it would be remiss to undervalue just how much of the film succeeds thanks to the sheer likeability of Nanjiani. He has been putting in fun performances for a good few years now, often in material that isn't really deserving of his presence, and I hope we can now see him in some more lead roles.

9/10

The Big Sick is out now. Buy it here - The Big Sick at Amazon.co.uk

Bad Milo! (2013)

Bad Milo! is a lot of fun, I guess, but it's also yet another movie that seems to have been embraced by fans for reasons that I can't quite fathom. It's amusing, diverting stuff that benefits from solid performances, but *whisper it* it's not THAT good. Not really. Admit it. Or is it just me? Is it? Okay, maybe it's just me.

Ken Marino stars as Duncan, a man with a severe case of tummy trouble. As he gets more anxious and stressed he ends up spending more time on the toilet. It turns out that these bathroom visits are so strenuous, and leave him (sometimes waking up the next morning from the bathroom floor) so relieved, because he has a little creature living inside his body. A creature that pops out to deal with anyone who causes Duncan too much stress. And, with the people around him including a horrible boss (Patrick Warburton), a fairly inept work colleague or two and some interfering doctors, there's plenty to motivate Milo to come out of hiding.

Directed by Jacob Vaughan, who also co-wrote the movie with Benjamin Hayes, Bad Milo! simply ends up stumbling because it doesn't ever commit to any one approach to the material. While it's pretty heavily indebted to Basket Case it never embraces the craziness of the premise in the way that Henenlotter would. Of course, few people are as brilliantly barmy as Henenlotter, so if the film isn't quite as crazy as it could be then there are other ways in which it can impress. Sadly, it doesn't. The few gore gags are okay, but the rest of the humour is neither sharp or abundant enough to make this a really enjoyable experience.

The cast all do a good job, however, and Marino is particularly good in the lead role. Peter Stormare is the kindly doctor who tries to make Duncan and Milo develop a more harmonious relationship, Warburton puts in yet another great performance (the guy never really lets me down), Gillian Jacobs is Duncan's loving partner, Sarah, and there are good little supporting turns from Mary Kay Place, Kumail Nanjiani, Toby Huss, Steve Zissis and Stephen Root. And, despite my disappointment with the film, I have to admit that everyone involved does an admirable job of keeping a straight face.

If you're a fan of offbeat comedies or warped body horror fare then, judging by the reactions of others, you're likely to enjoy Bad Milo! a bit more than I did. I enjoyed it, and I wouldn't rule out giving it a rewatch one day, but I just didn't think it was anything great.

6/10

http://www.amazon.com/Bad-Milo-Blu-ray-Ken-Marino/dp/B00FYL087K/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1391375702&sr=8-3&keywords=bad+milo