Witness Infection (2020)

A comedy horror movie that is neither funny enough nor scary enough, and doesn't even do a good enough job with some lashings of gore and carnage, Witness Infection is almost a textbook example of how NOT to deliver a zombie comedy. The fact that it is written by two of the stars should have set my Spidey-sense tingling.

Robert Belushi plays Carlo, a nice young man who happens to be the son of a mobster (played by Carlos Alazraqui). He has a brother (Dominic, played by Bret Ernst) who is more at ease with their mobster status, but Carlo is required to marry his brother's girlfriend (Patricia, played by Erinn Hayes) in order to make peace between his family and that of a rival mobster (played by Maurice LaMarche). Carlo puts his foot down, but his timing couldn't be worse. Some bad sausage has created an outbreak of zombiefication.

I've previously seen The Funhouse Massacre from director Andy Palmer, which showed that he could make an enjoyable comedy horror movie, but this film makes him look a lot less competent, and a lot of that is down to the script, although a few of the performances also don't help matters. Written by Alazraqui and Jill-Michele Melean, this is a film that seems to have been written by two people who have only ever seen the weaker movies in the zombie sub-genre. Or maybe they just watched Cooties (which I know many people liked more than I did) and figured that was enough research to give them a solid grounding to work from. They were very wrong. And what you end up with is a mix of characters that it is very difficult to care about, sloppy effects, and a sorry dearth of laughs. I understand that the effects may result from a not-entirely-successful crowdfunding attempt (5% of their flexible goal was raised) to add more to the movie once filming had finished. Maybe there's a lesson there, one in which people are reminded to try and use some inventiveness and actual heart instead of relying on money to patch over shoddy work.

Belushi isn't terrible in his main role, but he often feels sidelined as the zombie plot unfolds. The fact that there's no feeling of any real threat doesn't help, it means that viewers are never all that invested in his journey. Melean does better onscreen than she does with the writing, playing Gina, the woman that Carlo is genuinely interested in having a relationship with. Alazraqui and LaMarche are fine in their roles, Hayes does well with what she's given, and Tara Strong is always welcome onscreen (although she doesn't get to do a lot here). It's hard to figure out who is most annoying, however, between Ernst and Vince Donvito. The latter plays a friend to the leads, and someone who is interested in being an amateur film-maker. Which means his only real reason for being there is to make pointed references to other, better, films. That's it. And I'd love to think that we'll soon retire the laziness of the film character being a film fan in order for the film to cram in lots of nods and references they don't have to put any effort into, but it ain't gonna happen.

I didn't get on board with this one from the beginning, and my mood wasn't helped by the fact that it didn't seem to do enough to improve the standards of the audio and visuals, but it went from bad to worse. At least it allowed me to come up with one of my favourite last lines for any review I have written thus far. After the haunted hotdog instalment of Creepshow 3 and now this, perhaps it's best to stop trying to craft horror plots around dodgy weiners. 

3/10

https://ko-fi.com/kevinmatthews

Ani-MAY-tion: Batman Ninja (2018)

Okay, first point to be made here, I watched the American version of Batman Ninja, which was apparently rewritten by Leo Chu and Eric Garcia into something fairly different from the Japanese version, written by Kazuki Nakashima. It's hard to imagine how different the two incarnations could be, especially given how the direction from Junpei Mizusaki does such a great job of reworking the familiar Batman imagery in something much closer to the traditional style of anime, but it may well be worth checking it out when I have the time and opportunity.

Let's get to the plot. Batman is thrown into Feudal Japan, all thanks to a time machine created by Gorilla Grodd. Various villains have already staked their territorial claims, with The Joker being the one who seems to be the one with the best plan for ruling all (of course). But don't count out Penguin, Two-Face, Deathstroke, or, indeed, Gorilla Grodd himself. Any one of them could have a surprise up their sleeve to try and gain the upper hand over the others. Batman will have to rely on his ingenuity, some older battle tactics, and some other creations that I won't spoil here.

This is absolutely superb stuff. I've been a fan of most of the animated Batman movies that I have seen over the years but the recent twists on the material (I am thinking mainly of this outing and Batman: Gotham By Gaslight) have allowed film fans to get their usual dose of batty action without it feeling too repetitive and stale. Give me another example of this, even if it turns out to be an interesting failure, over something like Batman: The Killing Joke. Give me another pairing of Batman and Scooby-Doo over that.

Guided by Mizusaki, who has a small selection of projects on his CV so far, the look and feel of this is a perfect blend of the two worlds. That seems to be thanks to Takashi Okazaki, the man responsible for the character and background designs, and probably best known to anime fans for being the creator of Afro Samurai. Things start off with nice detailing throughout, drawing viewers into the world, and then the creative visuals just keep building throughout, leading to a third act that is delightful and potentially surprising (certainly to those who thought this would be more in the DC aesthetic than anime).

The voice cast all do decent work. Again, I am talking of the American version here. Roger Craig Smith isn't the best Batman, most of us will know who has the best voice for the role, but he's good. Tony Hale is a very good actor for The Joker, and Tara Strong has fun in the role of Harley Quinn. You also have Grey Griffin as Catwoman, Tom Kenny as Penguin, and Fred Tatasciore as Gorilla Grodd. Some of the cast members voice multiple roles, as standard, and there are others who also put in good work alongside the main players.

I encourage all fans of animation to check this one out. Every scene is beautiful, although I will try to avoid trotting out the old expression about being able to hang every frame up as a painting (but . . . yo could though), the storyline is well put together, the action beats are impressive, and it's yet another top-notch animated outing for The Dark Knight.

9/10

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

Teen Titans Go! To The Movies (2018)

Since enjoying a number of the animated WB superhero movies, I have become familiar with the Teen Titans. I was not, however, familiar with Teen Titans Go, the more child-friendly version of the heroes. But there's not exactly a lot to figure out, as long as you are at least passingly acquainted with the DC superhero universe. You just need to get used to the unique style of animation on display here. And tolerate a few fart gags.

The plot is fairly simple. Our heroes don't seem to get the respect they think they deserve, an issue that becomes clearer to them all when they find themselves unable to get a movie made about them, despite every other superhero being given adventures on the big screen. Robin (voiced by Scott Menville) is the one taking it hardest of all, but that doesn't stop him from leading the team in a brave battle against the nefarious Slade Wilson AKA Deathstroke (Will Arnett), who has a cunning plan to steal a powerful crystal from S.T.A.R. Labs (Scientific and Technological Advanced Research Laboratories) and take over the world.

Having both worked on the TV show, directors Aaron Horvath and Peter Rida Michail are a safe pair of hands for this movie incarnation, assuming a certain familiarity with a lot of the main characters while also introducing the actual Teen Titans with a mixture of gags and fun song lyrics (yes, there are a couple of musical numbers here). Horvath gets extra credit, thanks to his fine work co-writing the script with Michael Jelenic, a script that often gets the biggest laughs from the idea that, yes, the market for superhero movies may be a bit oversaturated at the moment.

Although I am unfamiliar with many of the voice actors, they all do well in their roles (having played incarnations of the Teen Titans for over fifteen years now). I feel I should namecheck them here, at the very least. As well as Menville playing Robin, you get Greg Cipes as Beast Boy, Khary Payton as Cyborg, Tara Strong as Raven, and Hynden Walch as Starfire. The fun is helped along by the performances from Arnett (between this and his LEGO Batman work, he's arguably my favourite DC performer), Kristen Bell, Stan Lee (it's hard to pick his best cameo but this gets extra points for using him in a DC movie), Nicolas Cage, Michael Bolton (yes...Michael Bolton), and Greg Davies, as well as Jimmy Kimmel, John DiMaggio, Patton Oswalt, and a few others.

It's bright, it's lively, it's got a brisk runtime to ensure it doesn't outstay it's welcome, Teen Titans Go! To The Movies manages to be a fun superhero comedy that cares for many of the main characters while simultaneously skewering them with glee. This is fun for all age groups, as long as you don't mind some of the toilet humour, and I enjoyed it so much that I am hoping to check out the cartoon series it stems from.

7/10

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