Shudder Saturday: The Rule Of Jenny Pen (2025)

Adapted from a short story by Owen Marshall, The Rule Of Jenny Pen feels like exactly that. Not that I am familiar with Marshall's writing. I just noticed that this movie feels a bit slight, buoyed by two fantastic lead performances, and cannot deliver a truly satisfying third act.

Geoffrey Rush is Stefan Mortensen, an elderly judge who ends up living in a care home after suffering from a stroke that leaves him partially paralysed. Mortensen wants to get back home as soon as possible, but that may not be an option for him as his body refuses to match the health of his mind. Also in the same care home is Dave Crealy (John Lithgow), a man who carries around a puppet named Jenny Pen and spends a lot of his time terrorising the residents. The staff aren't aware of this though, and it looks like Crealy will always manage to avoid any reprisals for his abuse.

Despite a few other cast members interacting with the leads, this is a two-hander that works best when both Rush and Lithgow are being confrontational with one another. In fact, this would work perfectly as a play with the opportunity to watch different heavyweights sinking their teeth into the roles. It's just a shame that the screenplay, co-written by Eli Kent and director James Ashcroft, doesn't do well enough outside of those moments. I think it's trying to look at the difficulty of having a clear mind trapped in a damaged body, but there are times in the film when it shows a level of calm acceptance for a situation that I would rather see characters continue to fight against.

Rush and Lithgow are both very good indeed, even if the latter also tries to maintain an Antipodean accent, and they feel perfectly cast in their respective roles. Lithgow has to deliver the bigger moments, showboating in front of a captive audience on occasion, and he is clearly having the most fun, but Rush is as indignant and strong-willed as he needs to be. George Henare is very good in the role of Tony, another resident who has been a victim of Crealy for a long time, and everyone else in the cast, from Maaka Pohatu to Hilary Norris, does great work, whether playing a carer or resident.

The technical side of everything is also very good. Everyone does their job with a degree of care and competence that keeps the whole thing looking and sounding as it should, but there's a real lack of flair or creativity, for the most part. One or two moments give an all-too-brief glimpse of how things could have been accentuated and presented, including a moment that shows Jenny Pen literally looming large over the leads, but most of the film, but there isn't enough of them to add to what should be an atmosphere of oppressive and smothering horror.

This is a good one to watch, particularly if you're a fan of either, or both, of the leads. It's not great though, and it's disappointingly unwilling, or unable, to use the premise in a way that effectively comments on anything other than the ongoing battle of wills between a bully and his victims.

6/10

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Minions (2015)

Thanks to the recent release of Despicable Me 4, I was able to buy a bundle of animated movies that included the previous Despicable Me movies and, of course, the Minions movies. And I am happy with that purchase. Because I am a grown man who often enjoys the fun and anarchy of animated movies like these ones.

I had previously seen both Despicable Me and Despicable Me 2, but that's where my time with Gru and the gang had stalled. Thankfully, recent rewatches of both of those movies made me all the more eager to work my way through the rest of the franchise.

Minions is a quick overview of the little trouble-makers who now seem to remain solely employed by Gru. That wasn't always the case though, and a narrator (Geoffrey Rush) gives us a selection of people that the minions have tried to help over the years. We then get to see our lead minions (Stuart, Kevin, and Bob) get involved with the nefarious Scarlet Overkill (Sandra Bullock) and her husband, Herb (Jon Hamm). This kickstarts a chain of events that leads to Scarlet eventually dethroning the Queen of England (Jennifer Saunders). But is that a result that the minions are happy with, and will they ever be given proper courtesy and recognition from Scarlet?

Co-directed by Kyle Balda and Pierre Coffin (aka the voice of the minions), this is a fun animated feature that fits nicely in the franchise. Arguably a bit sillier, and a bit more fun, than the two movies that preceded it, writer Brian Lynch knows how to string together various set-pieces to give fans of our little yellow beings exactly what they want to see. The minions aren't actually malicious, nor are they rarely fully aware of any danger around them, and this keeps them as endearing mischief-makers, although the third act allows them to start worrying about their ultimate fate at the hands of a ticked-off super-villain.

Coffin is as entertaining as ever while voicing the titular characters, but both Bullock and Hamm are also a lot of fun. The former is so good that it makes me wish she would get involved with more animated movies that could benefit from her vocal talent. There are also fun turns from Steve Coogan, Michael Keaton, Allison Janney, the aforementioned Rush and Saunders, and one or two others (including an obligatory cameo from Steve Carell).

Whether you enjoy the spectacle, enjoy the amusing way in which the plot careens from one act of villainy to the next, or just enjoy hearing minions blurt out words like "banana", Minions should make you smile and laugh for almost every moment of the 91-minute runtime. The minions may not be big, and they may not be clever, but they're wonderfully entertaining to watch. I'm looking forward to getting through the rest of the movies in this series very soon.

8/10

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Mubi Monday: Intolerable Cruelty (2003)

My reasons for picking specific titles to review are myriad and often a lot less organised, or sensible, than they should be. Take the choice for today, for example, a rom-com from the Coen brothers that many would probably often forget is even part of their filmography. Many might even prefer it not to be in there. Which is a great shame, as Intolerable Cruelty holds up as yet another showcase for the talented siblings to pick a genre they enjoy and have fun showing their mastery of it.

George Clooney is perfectly cast as the smooth-talking and perfectly-groomed divorce lawyer, Miles Massey. Often defying the odds, and relishing the challenge, Miles has an amazing record for helping his clients get everything they want, even if they are not the wronged party. But he's been finding himself thinking some quite unique, potentially dangerous, thoughts recently, made more troubling as he gets involved in a case that leads to him withholding a huge payout from the beautiful Marylin (Catherine Zeta-Jones). What follows involves love, pain, and the infamous "Massey pre-nup".

Very much in line with other Coen brothers movies, in terms of the snappy dialogue and assortment of memorable characters, Intolerable Cruelty is knockabout fare of the highest order, focused on two gorgeous leads who are surrounded by a fine collection of people taking on fun supporting roles. Geoffrey Rush is the cheated-upon spouse who finds his wife with another man, leading us to be introduced to the smooth ways of Massey. Edward Herrmann is the first husband of Zeta-Jones, bringing the two leads together for the central conflict, while Billy Bob Thornton is the second. Cedric The Entertainer is an investigator who often shouts out a catchphrase he has coined as he gathers video evidence of extra-marital affairs. And Paul Adelstein is Wrigley, a man in awe of Massey until he sees how major changes start to affect his life, while Richard Jenkins is the poor attorney often at the other side of battles against the winning teams.

It may not always look as good as many of their other movies, the production design is relatively clean and simple throughout, but shot choice and style are, as ever with the Coens, in line with the type of film they are most trying to emulate. Rom-coms are not known for their lavish sets or dizzying cinematography, therefore we don't get those things here.

The script is even funnier than I remembered, either in terms of the actual dialogue or the delivery (Clooney is so good in this kind of comedic role that I wish we'd seen him in more of them, classic deliveries matching his old-school movie star looks), and the whole thing sets all of the plot points up briskly enough and positively dashes through the 100-minute runtime.

I know that some automatically dislike the stars here, but they're both doing some of their best (or, at the very least, most fun) work, and casting them in these roles was a typically-great decision from the Coen brothers. It's hard to pick any one favourite from the supporting players either, with so many good moments to choose from. Everyone is hilariously over the top, and Rush sets the tone perfectly in the opening scenes, but I think I'll take this opportunity to highlight Jenkins, who does such wonderful work in a role that isn't as immediately full of comedic potential as the others, yet his performance just sprinkles more treats throughout the runtime.

The soundtrack is wonderful, the character developments, and small twists and turns, are constantly amusing, and this remains a fun time. I'm not going to argue that it's a masterpiece, or deserves to be in the top tier of a filmography from two men who have given audiences so many modern classics, but I am going to encourage people to either check it out or revisit it. You may realise that it's a lot more fun than given credit for.

7/10

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