Men In Black II (2002)

Another day, another chance to revisit a film that I think was always given a bit too hard a time when it was first released. Men In Black II is a lot of fun. It’s as well-paced and inventive as the first movie. The returning players are still great in their roles. It just isn’t as good as the hugely successful original.

A new baddie has landed on Earth (Serleena, played by Lara Flynn Boyle), looking to get their hands on something that was hidden away years ago by Agent Kay (Tommy Lee Jones). Unfortunately, Agent Kay had his mind wiped when he chose to retire from the MIB organisation, which makes things tricky when Agent Jay (Will Smith) has to bring him back “into the office”. Can they protect the valuable asset that Serleena is seeking? Can they even find the damn thing in time?

Written by Robert Gordon and Barry Fanaro, in place of Ed Solomon, and with Barry Sonnenfeld back in the director’s chair, Men In Black II doesn’t feel very far removed from its predecessor. There are one or two scenes that spend a bit too much time being too earnest and unfunny, but they are few and far between. Overall, this is a pretty great sequel, full of both new gags and gags that call back to lines and moments in the first film. The visual style is just as cool and slick throughout, and Danny Elfman once again delivers with his music (I think his main theme for this movie series holds up as some of his best work). Sonnenfeld keeps perfect control over everything, or at least makes it seem that way, and every extra detail, in the plot or production design, feels well-considered and relevant.

Although their roles have changed somewhat, Smith and Jones still make a great central pairing. The former remains cocky and ready to deliver witty lines, the latter still retains an air of exasperation around his well-worn face. Boyle is fun in the role of Serleena, an alien dominatrix with their tendrils whipping whoever doesn’t give them the right answers to their questions, and Johnny Knoxville is . . . well, look, I like Johnny Knoxville, but his character is the weak link there, a two-headed creation given too many chances to fool around in a way that isn’t on a par with the rest of the humour in the film. Rosario Dawson is a worthy addition to the cast, playing a murder witness named Laura who somehow avoids having her memory wiped, and there’s a typically great little turn from Patrick Warburton at the start of the movie. Rip Torn, Frank The Pug, and Tony Shalhoub all make welcome returns, as do the odd little “worm guys” (CG creations who all perk up when Dawson is introduced to them), and there are some fun cameos to keep your eyes peeled for.

The first film set a very high bar when it comes to blockbuster sci-fi comedy, and it holds up as a brilliant slice of modern mainstream cinema, but I remain convinced that this is a worthy sequel. It’s smart, it’s funny, it hits similar main beats. It just isn’t the first film, and I think those judging it too harshly on that basis are being a tad unfair. Although you can deduct an extra point or two from my rating if you REALLY can’t stand Frank The Pug. I have somehow grown to enjoy his screentime a bit more than I used to, but I can see how he could hurt the viewing experience.

7/10

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Prime Time: Walking Tall (2004)

Based on a film that was based on a strange and enjoyable true story, Walking Tall is a good star vehicle for Dwayne Johnson (still billed here as “The Rock” while he grew into his movie stardom), even if it’s far from a perfect movie.

Johnson is Chris Vaughn, a man who returns home after years spent in the military. The mill has closed, his old friend (Neal McDonough) has bought up lots of businesses, and something stinks. Problems become obvious when Chris and his friends have a night out at the local casino, where he spies a game being rigged and drugs being sold. The cops aren’t interested, which leads Chris to nominate himself for the position of Sheriff.

Directed by Kevin Bray, the biggest surprise about this movie is that it took about three people to write the simple script. I guess the challenge was fitting the material around Johnson and his co-stars, because the template of the original tale doesn’t seem like it would need a lot of work. There are also very few scenes here that are on the level of dumb fun you would expect from this kind of thing.

Johnson does his thing though, and that makes up for a lot. He is a solid choice for the role, and easily convinces in any of the more physical sequences. McDonough is also very good as the slimy, polished, friend who has turned into quite the powerful businessman. Johnny Knoxville does his amusing sidekick thing, and is just fine, while Kevin Durand is the main henchman squaring off against Johnson during the first half of the movie. Ashley Scott is the required love interest, and cannot do anything to improve her thankless role, but John Beasley and Michael Bowen are enjoyable as, respectively, the father of our leading man and an ineffective cop. Other people flesh out the cast, and Khleo Thomas stands out as the young nephew, Pete, but the film focuses on Johnson and Knoxville doing what they can to battle the baddies.

Certainly not the worst film that Johnson has done, nor is it close to his best, Walking Tall will satisfy people after an easy ninety minutes of action (even if the editing is a bit messy) and general camaraderie between the main characters. 

6/10

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We Summon The Darkness (2019)

There's humour in We Summon The Darkness, but it's not really a horror comedy. There's a period setting (late 1980s), but that's not really ever a focus, apart from giving a more realistic grounding for the wild central plot. And there's a good cast, but they're not used as well as they could be. In fact, everything in We Summon The Darkness feels a bit half-assed, to use the technical term.

Alexis, Valerie, and Beverly are three young women on their way to see a heavy metal show. Once there, they meet three boys they seem to click with. The girls invite the boys back to an empty house they're staying at, the perfect spot for some more drinking and partying. But should these youngsters all be letting their hair down in the middle of nowhere, especially with the recent spate of Satanic cult murders?

Writer Alan Trezza previously gave genre fans Burying The Ex, a fun little film enjoyed by myself and about ten other people (so it would seem). That also had Alexandra Daddario in a starring role (she plays Alexis here), but she was surrounded by Ashley Greene and Anton Yelchin. It was also directed by Joe Dante, which was a big plus. Similar to this, Burying The Ex had one neat little idea at the heart of it. Unfortunately, We Summon The Darkness doesn't have anything of note beyond the one little idea it has (a plot beat that is surprisingly predictable from the very opening scenes).

Director Marc Meyers isn't someone incapable of doing good work. But he's no Joe Dante. The biggest mistake that Meyers makes is having complete fait in the script from Trezza, which means neither party does enough to make this as good as it could be.

Daddario does well in her role, although she's the weakest of the three main female cast members, and Maddie Hanson and Amy Forsyth are good in the roles of Val and Bev, respectively, with Forsyth easily the strongest of the three. As for the boys, Keean Johnson, Logan Miller, and Austin Swift are a good mix, even if their very first appearance onscreen doesn't bode well. Other characters pop in and out of the narrative, but the only other one worthy of note is Pastor John Henry Butler, played in an enjoyably atypical way by Johnny Knoxville (who I would very much like to see get a meatier role in this vein).

There's entertainment to be had here, Meyers does just fine with the technical side of things, despite lacking the ability to elevate the material, but We Summon The Darkness feels very much like some comedy act in which the performer is very proud of his jokes, especially one he drops on the audience early on to set the tone, while every audience member sits patiently and waits for the big laugh that never comes. There's nothing here that will make you remember the movie hours after you've watched it, and I can't help thinking it is destined to become a forgotten obscurity within the next year or two. I also can't help thinking that it wouldn't have taken too much effort to save it from that fate. It's a shame that Meyers and Trezza weren't able to make that effort.

5/10

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Prime Time: The Dukes Of Hazzard (2005)

There were two movies made in the mid-2000s that were based on TV shows that were, in turn, based around a car in a starring role. Well, two that I can recall, off the top of my head. Starsky & Hutch was the first, in 2004. The second was this one. It's not really a surprise to find that both were reworked for comedy. It's also not really a surprise, for those who know how easily pleased I am, that I tended to enjoy both. What IS surprising is that this film turned out as well as it did, considering who was involved in front of the camera.

Mind you, with taste being as subjective as it is, the very people I enjoy seeing in this movie may be the very reason that others never want to see it, and think it should be consigned to the bargain bin section of Hell. And if you're already thinking that then you should probably not rush to see it.

Johnny Knoxville and Seann William Scott play Luke and Bo Duke, the rough 'n' ready heroes of our story. Well, they are the characters that we tag along with, and they are the humans who look set to put a spanner in the works of any plan by 'Boss' Hogg (Burt Reynolds), but the real star is the General Lee, the car that Bo uses to cause vehicular carnage and stay one step ahead of pursuing baddies, or those wanting to shoot Luke because of his unchecked libido.

Directed by Jay Chandrasekhar (of Broken Lizard fame), this works well because of good casting, gags that range from decent to groan-inducing, and a number of sequences that allow for some great car stonework. You also get appearances from many of the other Broken Lizard troupe members, which helps.

Written by John O'Brien, the script manages to retain the essence of the show thanks to the way it uses the main characters, even while twisting them all slightly to up the comedy quotient. Knoxville and Scott may not be your favourite actors, and may not be absolutely perfect in these roles, but they're a decent fit for a couple of moonshine-running lads who can always try to excuse the irritation they cause with a big grin and air of childishness.

The rest of the cast fit just as well, whether it's Jessica Simpsons turning heads as Daisy Duke, Burt Reynolds as the villain of the piece, M. C. Gainey as his main henchman, who also happens to be the local Sheriff, and Willie Nelson as Grandpa. There are also fun turns from David Koechner, James Roday (playing a cocky ex-resident of the county back to take part in a local race), an underused Lynda Carter, and one or two others.

The soundtrack has some great selections, the chase sequences are genuinely entertaining, and the plot feels like the kind of thing that could have happened in a feature-length episode of the show, which is sometimes the best you can hope for from a movie reworking a beloved TV show from the past. This may not be the best film that anyone here is involved with, but it's fun stuff, nothing more, nothing less.

6/10

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Action Point (2018)

Obviously based on the infamously dangerous amusement and water park located in New Jersey, Action Park, this comedy is an excuse to once again watch Johnny Knoxville get knocked flat on his ass in a variety of ways, resulting in him having to be taken to the emergency room multiple times during the shoot.

Framed by moments of an old man telling a story of his younger days to his granddaughter, the core of the plot takes place in the late 1970s and sees D.C. (Knoxville) struggling to find a way he can reinvigorate the fortunes of his dangerously dilapidated park. He also has his daughter (Boogie, played by Eleanor Worthington-Cox) staying with him for a few weeks, although the timing isn't great, considering how much time he has to spend scheming to keep the park open. But he does come up with at least one fantastic idea; remove anything that is in place to make the rides safer. Nothing seems to make kids happier than a sense of real danger. And that's all there is to the movie, aside from some father and daughter bonding, of course.

Director Tim Kirby has an extensive background in TV and comedy, having worked often with the the peerless Stewart Lee, and on shows ranging from Look Around You to Veep and Brooklyn Nine-Nine. So I assume that is why he was thought of as a good fit for this film, which is essentially using the slight narrative to string together the kind of slapstick violence Knoxville and co. entertained us all with during their Jackass years. Unfortunately, he's unable to bring anything to the film, which is  nothing more than an uninspired selection of pratfalls.

The screenplay by John Altschuler and Dave Krinsky is of no help either. If there had at least been some great one-liners and amusing exchanges peppered in between the physical comedy then this could have been moderately entertaining. There isn't, so it isn't.

Knoxville wanders through each scene, very much looking like the broken man he so clearly is (age makes every knock that little bit more painful and every injury that little bit harder to fully recover from), and he doesn't even get moments to revel in the injury-causing anarchy. He enjoys seeing some of the madness around him but there's nothing here to match the infectious glee that was always there in his Jackass persona. Worthington-Cox does better, being the standard teen who wants some quality time with her father, and she's really the only one who seems to be making an effort. Chris Pontius is given a role that could have been given to anyone (let's face it, his strengths do not lie in his acting ability), Dan Bakkedahl is the main villain of the story, but he isn't allowed to get too crazy or nasty, and nobody else stands out. Nobody.

I am easily pleased. Most people already know this about me. And I like Johnny Knoxville (I was a latecomer to the Jackass exploits but that first film remains the cinematic experience that had me laughing harder than any other). Sadly, this lacks laughs. It lacks action. And, worst of all, it kind of lacks a point.

3/10

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

Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa (2013)

If you've seen any of the Jackass movies then you've seen Johnny Knoxville made up to look like an old man. He's very convincing, thanks to the great make-up and his attitude. There were a number of sketches filmed in which Knoxville played, funnily enough, a bad grandpa. He would sit down somewhere with a young kid and allow them to drink alcohol. When taken to task, he would always make the situation worse by being downright unrepentant and clearly spoiling for a fight.

Bad Grandpa is, as you might already suspect, more of the same. It's a road movie that crafts a loosely-plotted storyline around some semi-improvisational skits, taking in a good number of innocent bystanders in the process. Knoxville is Irving Zisman, the man suddenly landed with a grandson named Billy (Jackson Nicoll). He aims to deliver Billy to his father (Greg Harris), despite the fact that the man sees his son as nothing more than a way to get his hands on an extra $600 a month. And that's all the plot that you need to create a film full of amusing stunts that range from a disastrous funeral to an altercation with some male strippers, and more besides.

If you're after something subtle and sophisticated then you're looking in the wrong place. To be fair, this was marketed as "Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa" as opposed to just "Bad Grandpa". I know this was mainly done for marketing purposes, but it also serves as a warning to those who dislike Knoxville and co.

The two stars do a surprisingly great job of making their characters feel very real. This could have easily been a simple selection of broad skits with no need to work on any of the linking material, but that's not the case. Knoxville and Nicoll work brilliantly alongside one another, and the biggest surprise is how genuine the fragile bond between them feels. Harris is pretty funny as the deadbeat dad who doesn't want his son with him until he's made aware of the money he could receive, and his bravery is to be commended for his behaviour in the third act (you'll have to watch it to know what I mean).

It seems redundant to mention the direction from Jeff Tremaine. Yes, the movie is put together competently. Even the footage filmed via hidden cameras is decent, with a variety of tricks used to keep the whole thing feeling more like a movie than just a set of sketches. Yet, at the end of the day, it IS little more than just a set of sketches. They're good, and one or two may make you laugh aloud, but the joke isn't enough to sustain a feature.

Watch and enjoy. You may well laugh a lot more than I did. I just doubt that this is one to revisit again and again, unlike some of the previous Jackass presentations.

6/10

http://www.amazon.com/Jackass-Presents-Grandpa-Unrated-Blu-ray/dp/B00G2PA0ES/ref=sr_1_3_twi_2_twi_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1419858159&sr=8-3&keywords=bad+grandpa