Deadpool & Wolverine (2024)

You've got to hand it to Ryan Reynolds. He always knew he could portray the definitive movie version of Deadpool, and he managed to make it happen after some major setbacks (not least of which was his portrayal of a very mishandled Deadpool in X-Men Origins: Wolverine). And now we all get to enjoy the benefits of that long and bumpy journey, finally seeing a feature film that allows Deadpool and Wolverine to appear alongside one another.

Deadpool has been struggling. He has, in fact, hung up the suit, unable to find a way to actually matter. There is a way though. He is called to the Time Variance Authority, aka the TVA, by Mr. Paradox (Matthew Macfayden). Deadpool can be part of something bigger, he can matter, or he can stay alongside the people he cares about until his universe is soon destroyed, a necessary measure due to it beginning to die after the loss of Wolverine. Deadpool thinks that jumping into various timelines to find any other Wolverine to bring back into his world may stop the pending destruction of his own universe, but things become even more complicated when our (anti-)heroes end up in The Void, a place full of discarded personalities, basically ruled over by the powerful Cassandra Nova (Emma Corrin).

While writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick return to work on the screenplay with Reynolds, they are also joined this time around by Zeb Wells and director Shawn Levy. Levy has worked with Reynolds on a few different projects I have thoroughly enjoyed (although I know that some others have not enjoyed any non-Deadpool content from Reynolds in years), but his relatively tame and safe style makes him an unusual choice for this. It ultimately doesn't matter much though, because it's still Reynolds seemingly driving this iconoclast-mobile right through the middle of Marvel Main Street. A better director might have improved this, which would have helped, but the many jokes and cameos, the many Deadpool one-liners, and the simple joy of seeing our merc with the mouth finally sharing the screen with Hugh Jackman's Wolverine will keep most comic-book fans very happy. It's still difficult to argue against the Deadpool movies being a series of diminishing returns though. I loved the first, really enjoyed the second, and enjoyed this extra-silly final adventure (well, I assume this is a final adventure . . . because I struggle to think of how you do a better send-off for the character).

That is how this film works best, a send-off to some beloved characters. Aside from our titular leads, there are many others who get some time in the limelight (some arguably more deserved than others). Both Reynolds and Jackman remain perfect in their main roles, particularly when doing what they do best, but it's only the latter who can really work with the fleeting moments of real pathos. Not that Reynolds is incapable, but he's hampered by the nature of the character as showcased in the previous two movies built to fit him. Corrin does well with what they're given, and holds their own in one or two great moments with Jackman, but the film only needs them as a supporting villain in between scenes that point the finger at selfish and inconsiderate suits, headed up by Macfadyen, who bugger things up by meddling with timelines and discarding elements no longer deemed profitable. As for everyone else, Rob Delaney is as enjoyable as he has been in almost everything he's done, but I won't mention anyone else in case that ruins the fun and surprises for other viewers. Rest assured, however, there are some fantastic little turns from some very familiar faces, and a scene-stealing dog.

Deadpool & Wolverine will be a smash hit (it already is, judging from the figures for the opening weekend), and I will certainly revisit it as much as I revisit the other films in the series, or maybe I'll just revisit favourite sequences, but it's an adorable mess. The opening sequence is fantastic, there's a great fight in the middle, and a fairly satisfying . . . climax (*insert wink at reader here*). I'm just not sure how much fun the cameos will be once you know who is due to appear though, and some of the gags start to feel a bit tiresome after they have been repeated so often.

Does this clean things up for Marvel, or does it ultimately make things even messier? Does it really matter at all? I don't think so, and that has always been part of the appeal of the Deadpool movies. It's about enjoying the company of people who relish playing in the particular sandbox that they've been allocated. And, whatever you think of the end result, Reynolds has always put in maximum effort.

6/10

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Home Sweet Home Alone (2021)

I was very confident, very confident, waving everyone away who tried to warn me off this movie. Because it couldn't be any worse than some of the other Home Alone movies, could it? Could it?

The simple answer, which I can put at the start of this review, is no. Home Sweet Home Alone is not worse than some of the other Home Alone movies. It's also not very good though, and it's not very good in ways that are quite mind-boggling.

Here's the plot. Archie Yates plays Max Mercer, a child who ends up home alone while his family have headed to Tokyo. He is also the prime suspect when Jeff (Rob Delaney) and Pam McKenzie (Ellie Kemper) lose a valuable doll that could see the end of their current money woes. Jeff and Pam believe that Max has stolen the doll, and Max is under the impression that Jeff and Pam are looking to kidnap him. Excessive snacking, lessons about home being where the heart is, and booby-traps are very soon the order of the day.

Written by Streeter Seidell and Mikey Day, and directed by Dan Mazer, there's nothing inherently wrong with the people making this movie. Their backgrounds tend to be based more in content such as SNL, Ali G, and other non-kid-friendly fare, but I didn't see their names and immediately worry about the film they would deliver. Perhaps I should have. The direction isn't terrible, not really, but the script is poor, especially when you consider some of the plotting that makes the viewing experience a difficult and unrewarding one.

Never mind though, because I really like Delaney and Kemper. So that should be a plus, right? It is, but not enough of a plus to make up for the big negatives. Delaney and Kemper aren't used well here, although I hate to think how much I would have hated this film with other people in their roles. Aisling Bea could have been another good bit of casting, but playing the mother of the child left at home alone simply leads to her feeling like a very poor replacement for the superb Catherine O'Hara. There are some other people doing perfectly fine work here, but that work is overshadowed by the central performance from Yates. I don't want to spend much time ripping apart the performance of a young child, and Yates is definitely not helped by a script that makes his character almost completely unlikeable throughout (when he isn't recreating moments from the first Home Alone movie). All I will say is that his character is one of the most irritating youngsters I have seen onscreen in a very long time, and I spent most of the movie hoping that he would end up caught in one of his own traps.

There's an argument to be made for this movie being even less deserving of your time because of how it seems to invert so much of what made the original film a holiday classic, and there's absolutely nothing here that actually feels good enough to warrant this reworking of the concept, but a level of general technical competence, as well as the presence of both Delaney and Kemper, stop it from being among the worst of the worst. It's really bad though, and this is coming from someone who often tries to see the best in every movie I watch.

3/10

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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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Tom & Jerry (2021)

Things didn't bode well for this film. The trailer was bad. Nobody seemed to want it. And I have horrible memories of the last time people tried to make Tom & Jerry more appealing to modern audiences. The characters were talking. Their antics were sanitised. It was a bad period in the history of arguably the most iconic cartoon duo of all time.

But I sat down to watch this anyway, spurred on by a positive review from a friend of mine. And it wasn't really that bad.

Jerry has decided to make his new home in the Royal Gate Hotel, which is set to be the venue for the grand wedding of the year. Chloë Grace Moretz is Kayla, a new employee at the hotel, and is tasked with getting rid of the mouse. That leads to her hiring Tom as a solution to the problem. Things don't go to plan, of course, and it looks like the big wedding could also be jeopardised by the cat and mouse carnage.

Directed by Tim Story, and written by Kevin Costello, Tom & Jerry is a fun mix of animation and live-action delivered by people who at least seem to understand the enduring appeal of the featured cartoons. A number of other animals are also presented in animated form, and the style and behaviour of the animals is nicely in line with our "heroes". Everything is a bit silly and over the top, but it's all set up quite well by the script, and Story directs it all well, zipping along from one highlight to the next, occasionally taking a moment just to focus on some animated one-upmanship. It's also nice to see a journey for Tom & Jerry plotted out that seems to make sense, changing their dynamic while somehow not making them feel unfamiliar to long-time fans.

Moretz may be the lead, and is the one doing the most acting alongside the animation, but she's heading up a decent cast, with everyone pitching their performances perfectly between standard family film levels of behaviour and animated exaggeration. Michael Peña is fun as Terence, a hotel employee who senses something strange is going on, Rob Delaney is the hotel manager, Patsy Ferran is a wonderfully odd Bell Girl, and Pallavi Sharda and Colin Jost play Preeta and Ben, the couple who are due to be married. Tom and Jerry name the movie, however, and they're given many moments to show that they're the stars. As it should be.

Although not on par with the classic cartoons, nor on par with many other fun family movies (live-action, animated, or using a mixture of elements), Tom & Jerry is an entertaining film that gets more right than it gets wrong. Slapstick violence, ridiculous schemes, and a friendship forged from constant battling, it's certainly good enough for any fans who can tolerate seeing them in a modern setting.

6/10

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