Prime Time: DC League Of Super-Pets (2022)

While I don't consider myself any kind of expert on the vast history and array of comic books, I am aware that super-pets have been a thing for some time. Which makes this animated movie an obvious choice for those wanting to appeal to younger viewers wanting to continue, or begin, their journey through the landscape, one full of masks and capes, that has dominated the box office for most of the past decade. It should be an easy enough recipe, and it is, but it's a shame that those involved didn't add just a bit more flavour.

Dwayne Johnson voices Krypto, the pet dog of Superman (voiced by John Krasinski). All seems to blissful, until Superman starts to think more about making plans with Lois Lane (Olivia Wilde). Meanwhile, a group of animals living in a shelter are far removed from bliss. Those animals include a dog named Ace (Kevin Hart), a guinea pig named Lulu (Kate McKinnon), and a few others we will get to see more of as the story plays out. Take some kryptonite, the fact that Lulu wants to impress the man who once ran tests on her (Lex Luthor, voiced by Marc Maron), and a bit of soul-searching, and you have the movie. Krypto loses his super-powers, but Ace and friends gain some, which leads to them trying to resolve some issues that will get in the way of them working together as a team.

Co-directed by Sam J. Levine and Jared Stern, who also co-wrote the screenplay with John Whittington, this is strangely better than I expected it to be, yet also full of unrealised potential. If the writers had found a way to focus on the animals without even needing (super)human characters involved then it may have been a much more enjoyable experience, able to play around in the DC universe without feeling attached to anything else. Sadly, the other characters are given some time, even if it is limited in comparison to the animals. And there's a cameo at the end of the film that is both sad and hilarious for a reminder of the hubris that Dwayne Johnson had in 2022.

Johnson and Hart are both fine in their roles, both managing to use nicely intertwine their onscreen personas with the essence of their canine characters, and I cannot think of any of their many film collaborations that I have completely disliked. McKinnon is great fun as the nefarious Lulu, an evil mastermind contained within a decidedly non-evil-looking guinea pig physique, and Maron makes a very good Lex Luthor (so much so that I think he'd be great doing it in live-action form). As for the other main animals, you have Vanessa Bayer, Natasha Lyonne, and Diego Luna having a lot of fun in their roles (playing, respectively, a potbellied pig, a short-sighted turtle, and a very nervous squirrel), and cameos from Keith David, Thomas Middleditch, and Ben Schwartz to listen out for. Krasinski and Wilde do fine, but the other superheroes are entertainingly voiced by Jameela Jamil, Jemaine Clement, and, best of all, Keanu Reeves (who is a surprisingly great fit for the Batman voice).

Younger viewers will enjoy the animal antics and silly jokes. Older viewers will enjoy the voice talent. I don't think anyone will enjoy everything about it though. The animation style is cute, but not on par with the seemingly effortless brilliance from other studios, the plot is as predictable as it is ultimately inconsequential, and it's the kind of thing you can watch and rewatch as a harmless distraction, rather than any beloved classic. 

But hey, no matter what I have said here, it still probably sits above most of the live-action DC features we've seen in the past few years.

6/10

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Barbie (2023)

Prime Time will be here on the blog tomorrow. This felt like it should be scheduled immediately after my Oppenheimer review.

"If you love Barbie, this movie is for you. If you hate Barbie, this movie is for you." That was the tagline being used in some of the advanced marketing for Barbie, a pink-drenched film based around a crisis for the titular doll. The people who came up with that slogan seem to have underestimated the extreme emotions that the film would create in film snobs who seem to be viewing this as a harbinger of the death of cinema. It was always going to be hilariously upsetting to viewers with fragile male egos, but I didn't expect to see such "righteous anger" from people who seem to think that Barbie is the blockbuster to take to task for marrying product placement to a central narrative. It's almost as if these people missed, well . . . *gestures to every other mainstream release from the past four decades*. Look, films sell other products. Arguably more than any other art form, they focus on the business in show business. And, yes, something like Barbie is more inextricably intertwined with a product that represents disposability and capitalism than most, but it's also very smart, very funny, and very much made for audiences who have already helped to turn it into such a special event (with a very positive knock-on effect for Oppenheimer that shouldn't be under-estimated).

Margot Robbie plays Barbie, living a very happy life in Barbie-land alongside a multitude of other Barbies, as well as a multitude of Kens (with the main Ken played by Ryan Gosling), and one Allan (Michael Cera). Oh, and Midge (remember Midge? she's played here by Emerald Fennell). Every day is wonderful, with the Barbies all happy to have done their part in helping to please and inspire women in the real world, doing their bit to dismantle the patriarchy and ensure equality for all. Yeah, you might have noticed something there that doesn't quite add up. We all know the reality of the world we live in, and it's far removed from how Barbie imagines our world. As things start to go awry for Barbie (her feet go flat, she starts to get cellulite), she is told that the only way to get everything back to the way it was is to visit the real world and help her "owner" to rediscover some positivity. Barbie, with Ken tagging along, commits to this journey, and she eventually meets Gloria (America Ferrera) and her daughter, Sasha (Ariana Greenblatt). She also meets sexism, capitalism, and a patriarchy that she thought she'd helped to end. It's not good for the women. Ken sees the upside of it all though.

Directed by Greta Gerwig, who also co-wrote the screenplay with her partner, Noah Baumbach, Barbie is an absolute delight from start to finish. It's the first film I have seen in the cinema in many years that ended with people giving it a round of applause. Not everyone will respond that way, of course, but even those who notice a few mis-steps should be able to view it as a resounding success. What could have been an easygoing and lightweight confection is instead a smart blend of celebration and condemnation of the figure at the heart of it. It's also just as much about Ken as it is about Barbie, and Ryan Gosling unexpectedly emerges as the real star of the show (his big musical number is one of the most enjoyable sequences I have watched in modern cinema, period). Gerwig sets up the characters and the rules quickly enough, helping herself with some witty and knowing narration from Helen Mirren, and the escalation of the surreal silliness feels very natural once you have accepted everything presented in the opening act.

It also helps that the cast are all fantastic, all feeling like a great fit for their roles, and all very much game to go with the camp and kitsch of the crowd-pleasing set-pieces. I could spend hours writing about Robbie and Gosling, but I would much prefer you to see the film and enjoy every little character detail that they include in their performances. Simu Liu is a lot of fun, playing a Ken who always seems to be ready to have beef with our lead Ken, and Cera gets to effortlessly steal a couple of scenes, even while he's just watching the main action from the sidelines. Kate McKinnon is another highlight, playing "weird" Barbie, and there are fun turns from Issa Rae, Alexandra Shipp, Emma Mackey, and others (including some fun cameos). As for the actual human characters, both Ferrera and Greenblatt are easy to root for, with the former allowed to deliver a barnstorming motivational speech that proves pivotal to the third act, Will Ferrell is a despairing Mattel CEO, and Rhea Perlman delights as Ruth (you should know who she is, but the film clues you in quickly enough).

With Mark Ronson and Andrew Wyatt taking care of the music, crafting a soundscape full of appropriately upbeat score and great pop songs, as well as those unforgettable Gosling moments, and everyone behind the camera doing flawless work when it comes to set decoration, makeup, costume design, and other artistic choices, there isn't much to be critical of. The only weaknesses are couched in the script, with an unnecessary chase sequence feeling a bit out of place and scenes featuring Mattel executives not quite landing the jokes as well as expected, but the good far outweighs the bad, and it's much easier to celebrate everything that Gerwig managed to slip into a mainstream blockbuster than it is to pick at the minor blemishes.

"If you love Barbie, this movie is for you. If you hate Barbie, this movie is for you." If you cannot get a chip off your shoulder, or feel that your masculinity is threatened by such a deluge of pink . . . well, maybe this movie isn't for you. But feel free to let the rest of us enjoy it without having to sneer and dismiss it, especially if you haven't actually seen the thing.

9/10

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Bombshell (2019)

A film about the eventual, and long overdue, downfall of Roger Ailes, the man at the very top of the ladder at the Fox News HQ for many years, Bombshell plays out with some very interesting points that don’t just target the abuser at the heart of the story. It is also about toxic work environments and the repercussions of not taking a stand sooner, although that is a lot easier said than done (for many reasons).

Nicole Kidman is Gretchen Carlson, a presenter at Fox News who knows her days are numbered. She is too old now, apparently, and has taken a stance on certain subjects that has angered Ailes (John Lithgow). Once she is fired, Carlson decided to sue Ailes, bringing up his problematic (to put it mildly) behaviour with the female staff. Many employees rally round Ailes, showing a unified front, but there’s a notable silence from one of the top channel stars, Megyn Kelly (Charlize Theron). While all this is going on, Kayla Pospisil (Margot Robbie) has just started her employment with the company, and soon finds out exactly how she is supposed to act around certain people. 

Written by Charles Randolph, who was also a co-writer on The Big Short screenplay, the first thing you may notice about Bombshell is . . . how similar it is to The Big Short. The character played by Theron introduces viewers to the situation, and the world shown, by breaking the fourth wall, and there are some tangents that rapidly and clearly explain how the company structure works, and what the main policies were.

Director Jay Roach makes life easy for himself by casting well, all treated perfectly by the hair and makeup people, and doing well by the script. Everything moves along well enough, but certain lines of dialogue and individual moments are given the time and space needed to really sink in.

Theron, Kidman, and Robbie are all excellent, playing women at very different levels within the very sexist structure of Fox News, as dictated by Ailes, whether their position is to do with age, experience, savvy, or all of those things. Lithgow is excellent in his role, bullish and arrogant, and very often completely repugnant, even before the level of his abuse of his position is made apparent. The supporting cast includes some great performers, such as Allison Janney, Kate McKinnon, Connie Britton, Liv Hewson, Rob Delaney, and Mark Duplass. Not everyone works though. Richard Kind, for example, doesn’t feel close enough to Rudy Giuliani (although my view has maybe been tainted by seeing how far I think Giuliani has fallen in recent years). Generally, however, the cast feel like a good fit.

The people to blame for abuse are abusers, and Bombshell doesn’t lose sight of that fact. But it also shows the importance of speaking up against those who are abusing power, despite the potential consequences. Because someone has to lead the way, someone has to try their hardest, if only to help warn others, and Bombshell is as much about the need to act and speak out, even if things thankfully didn’t go as far as you worried they would, as it is about Ailes and the power that had him thinking he could act however he wanted. 

7/10

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The Spy Who Dumped Me (2018)

Mila Kunis plays Audrey, a young woman who is upset on her birthday when she is dumped by her boyfriend (Drew, played by Justin Theroux) through the callous medium of text message. This leads to a chain of events that see Audrey and her best friend, Morgan (Kate McKinnon), getting drawn in to a plot that includes spies, violence, death, and lots of comedic banter between the two out-of-their-depth ladies.

We've had a few action comedies in the past few years, and Melissa McCarthy has given us some big laughs in two of them (Spy and The Heat). The Spy Who Dumped Me tries to give things another twist, but it ultimately relies on the two leads more than the script or direction, and that's not enough to make this memorable.

Director Susanna Fogel, who also co-wrote the movie with David Iserson, may not be an absolute first-timer here but you could be forgiven for assuming that she is. This is a film riddled with amateur errors, although it has enough weight behind it, and polish, to keep it as an enjoyable disappointment, as opposed to a complete disaster. The script doesn't have enough laughs (I probably laughed aloud at about two lines, and they may have been in the same scene - an interrogation sequence), the action feels a bit carelessly planned out, and it's hard to care about any of the twists and turns that occur.

Kunis and McKinnon are two great actresses, but neither of them are well served by the script that they're given here. McKinnon suffers more, with her character often coming across as annoying and unhelpful throughout (bar a couple of moments that make her useful out of the blue), but Kunis just never feels like the best fit for the character that she's supposed to be playing. The men generally fare better, perhaps because they're all being made to look arrogant and shifty most of the time, with Theroux decent fun, and Sam Heughan and Hasan Minhaj just fine as the other agents who may be good or bad. Paul Reiser and Jane Curtin are a welcome addition, and could have done with some more screen time, and there are good performances from Gillian Anderson and Ivanna Sakhno (playing, respectively, an agency boss and an ex-gymnast turned assassin).

The Spy Who Dumped Me isn't a bad film. It's just not a very good one. And the fact that it has too few laughs, action scenes filmed quite badly, and leads who don't feel quite right in their roles make it a  bad action comedy. I REALLY hope someone makes another great vehicle for McKinnon soon, because I tend to enjoy her performances, even when she's given weaker material, and it would be a sin if we were denied her comedic talent because nobody figured out how to make the best use of her in movies.

5/10

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

Rough Night (2017)

2017 ended up being the year in which we had two big cinema releases focusing on women getting together and letting their hair down. But where Girls Trip may have tried to play the premise with a surprising emphasis on some more dramatic moments, Rough Night is content to just go for the laughs, with fleeting emotional moments doled out as and when the character development needs to be prodded to the next point.

Scarlett Johansson plays Jess, a young woman about to get married. She's also hoping to become an elected official, although this is in doubt as too many members of the public don't find her that appealing. She is behind the polls to a man who accidentally sent out a dick pic. He apologised, but only while sending out another dick pic that was obviously intended to go out the first time around. So it's no wonder that Jess is looking forward to some fun with her friends, played by Jillian Bell, Zoe Kravitz, Ilana Glazer, and Kate McKinnon (playing an Australian who is unfamiliar with the rest of the group). Unfortunately, it doesn't take that long for someone to go and accidentally kill the male stripper who was hired as entertainment. Which means the fun plans have to be altered to body disposal plans. And hilarity ensues. Perhaps.

With a plot that seems to mix Bridesmaids and Very Bad Things (without the spiralling chain of deaths), Rough Night isn't going to claim any points for originality. Everyone involved seems to know this, with every main sequence played out almost exactly as you'd expect, but that's not a bad thing when the aim is always to simply amuse and entertain viewers.

Director Lucia Aniello, who co-wrote the screenplay with Paul W. Downs (also starring as Johansson's husband-to-be), makes her feature debut, and shows that she's a safe pair of hands for this kind of material. Keeping the whole thing at just about 100 minutes, Aniello and Downs know just how to pitch the elements that could seem distasteful in clumsier hands (the main death, a plot point that hinges on someone getting themselves involved with a pair of swingers, even the ongoing strand that shows Downs driving across the country, wired on energy drinks and wearing an adult diaper, as he frets that his fiance may no longer love him), and they give

Glazer and Kravitz may be the weakest of the leads, although it's safe to say that they're not given very much to work with at all, but that doesn't matter when you have Bell and McKinnon bickering at one another fine style, and Johansson trying to remain calm and level-headed throughout the escalating madness. Downs is also very good in his scenes, given some fun support from Bo Burnham in a cameo role, and Ty Burrell and Demi Moore have fun in the couple of scenes they're given.

It's not great, it's entirely predictable (seriously, if you can't see how the third act is going to pan out then I assume you have avoided every mainstream cinema release since the mid-1970s), but it still manages to be funny enough to make it a decent prospect to accompany some snacks and the beverage of your choice.

6/10

Rough Night is available to purchase here.
Or here, in the land of stars and stripes.

Office Christmas Party (2016)

The office Christmas party, eh. It's an annual tradition for many. The one night of the year when everyone drinks too much, some embarrassing truths are voiced, folk photocopy various body parts, the dancing varies from the sublime to the ridiculous, and occasionally someone goes up to the big boss and says or does something so insane that they are never seen in the workplace again.

With all that in mind, it's surprising that we haven't had a big Christmas comedy based around that tradition before now. Am I forgetting any other candidates? If so, I am happy to stand corrected (and can only blame my failing memory). What isn't surprising is that this particular film tries to take the premise and use it as the structure upon which to hang a bawdy comedy along the lines of The Night Before, Horrible Bosses, and We're The Millers. I mention the first because it's Christmassy, obviously, but the other two are perhaps more appropriate, mainly because of how they use Jennifer Aniston and benefit from a selection of great supporting players.

Jason Bateman stars as Josh Parker, a man who is working for a tech firm that might not survive beyond Christmas. The boss (T. J. Miller) has been ordered by his sister (Jennifer Aniston) to avoid throwing any kind of party, and to not give anyone a Christmas bonus. Which means, of course, that he instead decides to try winning over a potential new client by throwing the biggest, wildest Christmas party ever and letting people win their cash bonuses inside a money tornado machine. This is a nightmare for the uptight head of HR (Kate McKinnon), and soon leads to a potential nightmare for everyone else, when they realise that their jobs are on the line and their boss may not have taken the best approach to guaranteeing that the business remains solvent.

Josh Gordon and Will Speck directed this, both also responsible for the highly enjoyable Blades Of Glory, and the script was written by Dan Mazer, Justin Malen, and Laura Solon. Two directors and three writers. But those three writers were developing a script from a story that was created by THREE OTHER WRITERS, apparently. How hard is it to throw together some big laughs for a comedy that is set during an office Christmas party? Very hard, it would seem, because there aren't many big laughs here.

The film isn't actually bad, and I had lots of little chuckles all the way through, but there aren't really any moments that stand out. No one memorable scene that you can talk about with friends as a shared favourite moment. And that's a great shame, considering the people involved. Hell, there's even a fleeting dance off between two characters that should have been a highlight, but is instead too short and safe to prompt anything more than a wry smile.

Bateman does his usual thing here, and has it locked down as usual. Miller is someone I like, but I could absolutely see him as being the grating type, so be warned. Olivia Munn also plays one of the main characters, but she's really not onscreen for anything more than plot progression and to motivate the growth that we expect to see in Bateman's character, who spends a lot of time being told how he always plays things too safe. Aniston is also ill-served by the script, although that comes from her being the nominal villain of the piece and having to play things that way as one-note as possible until the writers change things too late for anyone to really care. McKinnon is very funny, but I am pretty sure she can spin gold out of the most threadbare material at this point, and Courtney B. Vance, Rob Corddry, Vanessa Bayer, Randall Park, and Karan Soni are among the other wasted talents. Jillian Bell is a definite highlight, and the writers do well to bring her character in at just the right times.

It will do if you want a few laughs from something that isn't also drowning in sugary sweetness, but Office Christmas Party is certainly not bound to become a festive tradition. I doubt it will be remembered in a few years time, and that's no bad thing.

6/10

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