Noirvember: The Kid Detective (2020)

Being a kid detective is a very good thing. Or so it seems. Getting to help the local community, being underestimated by many people dealing with you, and acting wise beyond your years in a way that many view as endearing. It all becomes a bit more difficult to deal with when you're no longer a kid though, particularly when you stay in the same job, carrying around the weight of your childhood success.

Adam Brody stars here as Abe Applebaum, the kid detective who is now an adult in an apparent state of arrested development. He hasn't let go of his past, and hasn't moved beyond what many expected to just be a phase. He doesn't see why he should change though, considering his gift for detection. But his latest case, a young woman named Caroline (Sophie Nélisse) asking him to find out who murdered her boyfriend, turns into an opportunity to completely re-evaluate his past, and perhaps even allow himself to move on to the next chapter in his life.

A great mix of comedy and drama, and with a proper and well-constructed mystery at the heart of it, The Kid Detective is an excellent character study that benefits from Brody being such a great fit in the lead role. Writer-director Evan Morgan nails the tone throughout, jumping deftly between effective little gags and scenes that show the pain of someone feeling more adrift in the turbulent sea of life, and his script is full of an obvious affection for the tropes being used/subverted.

Brody carries the film on his shoulders, but does so in a way that emphasises how slim those shoulders are. He's been playing variations on this kind of role for much of his career, someone a bit emotionally-stunted and selfish, but this gives him a number of layers to work through as the plot unfolds. Nélisse is very good as the young woman who doesn't realise that the mystery she needs solving may lead to something even darker and more dangerous, and Sarah Sutherland is a lot of fun as the sullen Lucy, a woman who has somehow found herself as trapped in her role as secretary to the kid detective as he is trapped by his own history. Wendy Crewson and Jonathan Whittaker are bemused parents who expected their son to have moved on from this "phase" long before now, Peter MacNeill is the local school Principal, and Dallas Edwards plays a boy named Calvin who may be the key to unlocking the case.

Much darker than expected, but all presented in a way that stops that darkness from weighing it down too much and making it unbearable to watch, The Kid Detective is a surprisingly brilliant mix of the old and the new, making use of a fun core idea to springboard into muddy waters familiar to anyone who has watched their fare share of neo-noirs. Every individual aspect is handled with care, especially the set-ups and payoffs to gags that are used throughout to maintain the well-balanced tone throughout, and the end result is a gem of a film that should develop a strong cult following as more people discover it and recommend it to like-minded film fans.

8/10

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Shazam! Fury Of The Gods (2023)

Try as I might, I could not muster up any enthusiasm for Shazam! Fury Of The Gods. The trailer was perfectly fine, the cast seemed decent enough, and I had enjoyed the first movie. There was just nothing making me feel like it was unmissable on the big screen. Then I had a long weekend to enjoy and some time to spend at the local cinema. So I figured maybe I was wrong to be so hesitant.

I was right.

This isn’t a terrible film. It just lacks any weight, and has been released at an odd time in this current phase of DC movies. We know that there is going to be an attempt to reboot a number of properties, which makes it even harder to invest in something that is still trying to play around in a slightly different sandbox, but keeping connections with a larger universe that has just lurched in another direction.

Our hero (Zachary Levi) cannot seem to do much right lately. He and his super-friends, nicknamed the Philadelphia Follies by locals, might save lives, but never in a way that is as polished and successful as other superheroes we could mention. Then some Ancient Greek sisters come along, repair the powerful staff broken at the end of the first film, and start causing havoc, culminating in a third act that brings in some fun creature designs and large-scale destruction.

With director David F. Sandberg returning, as well as writer Henry Gayden (joined by Chris Morgan, who wrote SEVEN of the Fast & Furious movies), and most of the main players reprising their roles, from Levi to Djimon Hounsou, as well as at least one canny cameo, Shazam! Fury Of The Gods could have fared better if released by someone more stable and consistent than DC. I don’t think it would have been viewed as any kind of classic, but both Shazam! movies, much like the goofy big kid at the heart of the picture, just want to please as many people as possible. While the direction and writing are competent, there are moments when it feels as if those involved couldn’t agree on which way to take the film, and the compromise allowed everyone to add their personal preferences.

Levi is fun in the main role, Adam Brody is enjoyable as the hero who wants to enjoy his time in the limelight, and everyone else in the main family unit, whether a child actor or their adult counterpart, does a good job. There are a few too many characters to ensure that everyone gets their big moment, but the film tries hard to share out the treats. Mirren does the kind of thing she can do so well, she has steely willpower, a wry smile, and grace to go along with her villainy, while Lucy Liu has fun moving from a potential threat to main big baddie. Rachel Ziegler does an excellent job in her pivotal role, reminding me that I still need to see her in West Side Story, and she joins a number of characters I would love to see again, if there was ever a third film in this series (which currently looks highly unlikely).

A collapsing bridge sequence is a highlight, the final face-off is great, and the central message here is as sweet and positive as it was in the first film. It’s just a shame that the whole thing feels so horribly chaotic, bringing in elements that feel as if they have been pillaged from Harry Potter and Harryhausen, with varying degrees of success. People lose and regain their powers as if playing a game of tag, the tone sometimes swerves unexpectedly towards moments of real grimness, and the very last scenes will have most viewers just impatiently waiting for what they know should happen before the end credits roll. There’s also the usual extra bits to keep watching for, but they suffer from the same problem we’ve seen before; what is set up to be consequential and impactful now just feels pointless, because the suspicion is that nothing more will come of it.

Arguably hamstrung before it hit cinemas, Shazam! Fury Of The Gods is absolutely okay. It does nothing new, it’s pretty inoffensive, and there’s a big dragon that looks pretty awesome at times. If you feel like you’re in the mood for that then give it a go. There are so many better films you could choose though, and that includes a number of “under-performing” superhero movies.

6/10

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Prime Time: Seeking A Friend For The End Of The World (2012)

The directorial debut from Lorene Scafaria (who recently entertained audiences with the very enjoyable Hustlers), what you get here is a drama with some weighty themes that benefits enormously from a great script (written by Scafaria) and a pair of winning lead performances.

There's not long left. An asteroid is heading to Earth. The end is very much nigh. And things are made worse for Dodge (Steve Carell) when his wife leaves their car and just runs out of his life. So many people are taking the upcoming end of days as an excuse to cut loose and enjoy their time without real consequences, but Dodge just wants to connect with a special someone before it's too late. He ends up working towards this aim with a neighbour, Penny (Keira Knightley), and their journey takes some interesting turns, despite the knowledge that they're not going to have a happy ending.

We've seen films similar to this before. Someone finds out they don't have long to live, which in turn leads to them finally doing things they always wanted to do. The big twist here is that the new lust for wanting to make the most of a very truncated lifespan applies to pretty much everyone in the world. Many people indulge in a fair amount of hedonism, some riot, and some try to take control of their fate in other ways. Dodge actually acts quite normally, considering the circumstances. Although it may seem foolish, or like a missed opportunity, he is determined not to use the upcoming ELE to completely change how he lives his life. The biggest change he makes is being in the company of Penny, which is enough to lead to cause some serious repercussions.

Carell is superb in his role, no surprise to those who have enjoyed his dramatic work for a number of years now (he's as good with the drama as he is with the comedy, and I love his comedy work), and Knightley gives one of her best performances in a non-period film. The two work well together, an unlikely pairing made a lot easier to believe in thanks to the unusual circumstances that have led to them growing closer after a long time of not really taking any notice of one another. Connie Britton and Rob Corddry are a married couple viewing the limited time left as an excuse to be totally free, Adam Brody gets a few minutes of screentime, and you get some nice little turns from Melanie Lynskey, Martin Sheen, T. J. Miller, Gillian Jacobs, and quite a few other familiar faces.

Scafaria certainly doesn't feel like a first-timer here, directing with skill from her excellent script. This could easily have been either too light or too dark, making the casting of Carell in the lead role an extra risk, but she gets the tone perfect throughout. This manages to be bittersweet in the best way, providing a worthwhile journey for the main characters without letting viewers forget that, whatever happens, everything is still set to end when that asteroid hits.

Sweet, touching, different enough from many other movies you may have seen in this mould, Seeking A Friend For The End Of The World is one to prioritise on your viewing list. Definitely watch it before humanity goes extinct.

8/10

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Ready Or Not (2019)

If you haven't seen Ready Or Not yet then what have you been up to? Oh, I get it, you have just been too busy, like myself, dealing with life stuff. It's not always easy to get along to the cinema, even when something is being raved about, as this was.

Samara Weaving plays Grace, a young woman who is taken to the family home by her hubby-to-be, Alex (Mark O'Brien). The wedding arrangements allow for the usual mix of friendliness, civility, barbed comments, and resentment, but things take a turn for the worse when Grace is asked that evening to draw a card, one which will decide on a game the family has to play. She draws one that says "hide and seek", and it turns out that this means the family has to hunt and kill her before sunrise, or they believe they will be struck by a deadly curse.

Directed by the talented duo of Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, Ready Or Not is a fun and bloody romp (yes, I used the word romp here - deal with it) that is boosted by a few select talented cast members helping to raise the material. The canny casting is essential, as what could have been a sharp and witty script is surprisingly weak. Guy Busick and Ryan Murphy (AKA R. Christopher Murphy) do a good job of getting everyone into place and delivering the little morsels of exposition throughout, but they fail to do enough to raise this above a number of similar genre films from recent years (including the enjoyable Mayhem, which also starred Weaving). For those who have seen the film and don't agree with me at all, I'd like you to consider a) whether or not you enjoyed certain characters because of how they acted or because of who was portraying them, and b) how much worse this would have been with someone in the main role who didn't have the charisma of Weaving.

Fortunately, we DO have the charisma of Weaving, who seems to have been poised on the very edge of proper stardom for a couple of years now. She's consistently brilliant in this, moving believably from someone understandably freaked out by events to someone determined to survive. O'Brien is okay as the love of her life, despite showing no hint of what someone might see in him. Thankfully, you get a wonderfully wry turn from Adam Brody, trying to stay drunk while he wearies of the family traditions, Henry Czerny is superb as the patriarch of the family, and Andie MacDowell is amusingly unfazed by anything that happens. Her role may be a relatively small one, but it's her best in some time.

What works here is the commitment to lining up the gory surprises as people are killed off, one by one, some of them directly involved in the whole scheme and some of them just "innocent" bystanders. Plenty of blood is spattered over people, with most of it ending up on Weaving, and there's a nice balance of moments to make you wince and moments to make you laugh aloud, but I would once again emphasise that it all seems to work as well as it does thanks to the direction and the way the main players sell it.

A good time is guaranteed for most genre fans, but if you have cast your net far and wide in the past year then I'll be very surprised if this ends up as your absolute favourite horror of 2019. It might even be struggling to get into a Top 5 for some voracious cinephiles.

7/10

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Welcome To The Jungle (2013)

Jean-Claude Van Damme has never been a stranger to comedy. He's shown a good nose for it all through his career. And those Coors Light commercials were fantastic. But it's only now that he's starring in an actual live-action comedy feature, and he's unsurprisingly great in it.

The plot concerns a young man named Chris (Adam Brody) who seems to spend every day at his work being walked over by Phil (Rob Huebel) or messing up any chance to engage in conversation with the lovely Lisa (Megan Boone). So he's really not overjoyed when he and his colleagues are sent away for a weekend team-building exercise on a remote island. The whole thing is being led by Storm Rothchild (Van Damme), a man with more brawn than brains, but it's not long until he's sidelined and everything starts going a bit Lord Of The Flies.

In line with so many other comedies that you've seen before, Welcome To The Jungle is still decent fun, thanks in no small part to Van Damme, Brody and the rest of the cast. The script by first-timer Jeff Kauffmann isn't big or clever. It's content to simply be amusing. Taking a bad situation and then making it worse, the movie is set up to get our main character to a point at which he decides to take a stand.

Director Rob Meltzer has only a few other credits to his name, and none of them really seem to be of particular interest to me, but he handles this material just as well as any of the other directors working today. Indeed, his ability to limit the film to about the 95-minute mark actually puts him ahead of some people.

Brody makes for a pleasant enough lead, Van Damme is consistently hilarious (and doesn't overdo things until the material leads him to that approach in the final third), and Huebel is very easy to dislike, and also laugh at. Megan Boone makes for an okay, if somewhat bland, love interest, while Kristen Schaal, Eric Edelstein and Dennis Haysbert are among the more entertaining supporting cast members.

Not a film that will make it onto any Top 10 lists, and not even a film that you'll necessarily remember a few years down the line. This is simply a good time while it's on, nothing more and nothing less. And it's recommended to anyone who ever wanted to see Van Damme recuperating while having his ears stroked and being soothed like a pet bunny. Admit it, you're sold.

6/10

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Jennifer's Body (2009)

Megan Fox and Amanda Seyfried star in this hip comedy horror directed by Karyn Kusama from a script by Diablo "writer of Juno" Cody. I think every review of this movie has to mention the fact that Diablo "writer of Juno" Cody was the writer of Juno. This fact may help people decide whether they are going to like or dislike Jennifer's Body because it certainly contains a lot of the highly stylised teenspeak that Diablo peppered throughout her most famous script (to date, anyway).

The plot sees Jennifer (Fox) and her unlikely, and slightly geeky, best friend Needy (Seyfried) attending a rock gig featuring a band with a lead singer (Adam Brody) that Jennifer would like to get to know a lot better. But when a fire burns down the venue things go speedily downhill and Needy simply looks on as Jennifer is taken away in the rock group's van to who knows where. The next day it seems that all is well, weirdly so, but something is different about Jennifer - she's now possessed and likes to terrorise and eat her fellow schoolmates. This causes some understandable friction between the two pals, and as the rift widens it's Needy who starts to uncover the truth behind the recent spate of deaths in town.

A lot of people have had the knives out already due to the lead role being played here by Megan Fox, an attractive girl most associated with the large battling robots of the Transformers movies. But it's with performances like this one and her turn in How To Lose Friends And Alienate People that she proves she's more than just a pretty face. Seyfried is a great asset as the best friend who has to face some difficult decisions and none of the other young actors let themselves down in any way. There really aren't too many older stars given much time but J.K. Simmons stands out in his small, fun role.

Stylistically, the movie reminded me very much of Heathers and also Mean Girls in its skewing of high school hierarchy and the twisting of the stereotypical teen roles. As mentioned before, those who do not like the kind of teenspeak used in Juno, etc. may find the whole thing a bit jarring to the ears but the blend of scares, tension and smart one-liners (my personal favourite being a great "Rocky Horror" gag) should please those who dig the movie's overall vibe.

7/10 

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