Netflix And Chill: The Iron Claw (2023)

Two things have happened as wrestling has grown in popularity over the decades. One, more and more people have been available to point out how obviously fake it all is, especially when it comes to ongoing storylines and twists and turns on the road to crowning champions for different events. Two, more and more people have been available to point out that it takes a hell of a lot of physical skill and strength to sell that fakery. Real injuries happen all of the time, some of them a lot worse than others, and career wrestlers know just how much blood, sweat, and tears they have left in the ring after years of fighting to entertain hungry crowds. Sometimes it's just enough. Sometimes it's far too much.

The Iron Claw is a tale of wrestling, in a way. It's a look at the Von Erichs, a family who seemed to be cursed, and shows how the male members of that family were worn down over the years by the physical toll of their lifestyles, the pressures put upon them, and sometimes just one bad decision leading to the worst possible outcome. There's pain throughout almost every scene, and the moments that are pain-free feel threatened by some as-yet-unseen train hurtling down the tracks to crash and upend multiple lives.

The third feature from writer-director Sean Durkin, The Iron Claw may seem like it's only for a niche audience, but it actually works well for anyone who has felt that pressure to do something that they didn't always love. That pressure may come from parents, as it so often does, or it may come from siblings. It could come from a loving partner, it could come from those trying to influence your career decisions to deliver a desired outcome. And sometimes, even with those other voices silenced, it comes from within. While The Iron Claw IS about wrestling, it's equally about that internal voice, and the struggle to deal with it.

Holt McCallany does a very good job as the patriarch, a man who thinks he knows what is best for his sons and maintains constant pressure on them to try and be the best they can be. He's a human steamroller, but remains loved by his children long after the damage he has caused finally starts to become clear. The film rests on the broad and muscular shoulders of Zac Efron though, who is put on display in his very first scene in a way that displays his incredible transformation into some kind of man-mountain. Efron can act, of course, but his commitment to embodying Kevin Von Erich here leads to what is arguably his best ever dramatic performance. Jeremy Allen White, Harris Dickinson, and Stanley Simons are the three other main Von Erich boys shown onscreen, with all of them doing well enough to share the screen with McCallany and/or Efron, and both Maura Tierney and Lily James do their best as the main women orbiting a small planet of dense musculature and toxic masculinity.

Like many a film based on real life events, some truths have been omitted and some of the timeline has been moved around, but that doesn't stop this from being very effective and informative, much like the best documentaries. I think those already familiar with the story will find a lot to appreciate here, even if they pick up on certain errors or scenes that they feel don't quite represent things with 100% accuracy, and those who know much less about the wrestling world, like myself, will be moved by it, and maybe interested in diving a little deeper into the true story.  

Don't put this on when you're not prepared for it, mentally. It's a rough, draining, experience, and runs for just over two hours. But do steel your resolve to tackle it one day. It's a majorly impressive work, thanks to Durkin making a number of smart choices and a cast who go as far as they can to present their characters with authenticity, in both their bodies and their souls.

8/10

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Netflix And Chill: A Family Affair (2024)

If you liked The Idea Of You then you should like A Family Affair, a rom-com with a similar age and status divide getting in the way of the potential romantic relationship at the heart of things. Unlike the former film, this gets a better balance of both the rom and the com elements, but it suffers slightly from a lack of any real chemistry and heat between the leads.

Zac Efron plays Chris Cole, a vain and selfish actor who constantly makes life difficult for his young assistant, Zara (Joey King). When he eventually goes too far, once again, and has Zara walking out on the job, Chris knows that he has to make things up to her. He heads to her family home, where he meets Zara's mother, Brooke (Nicole Kidman). Things quickly get hot and heavy for the two of them, which makes things very awkward when Zara eventually walks in on them in flagrante. Not only could this complicate things if Zara returns to work for Chris, but it puts Zara on edge as she waits for the moment when Chris inevitably hurts her mother. Because Chris eventually hurts every girl that he's been in a relationship with. It's what he does.

Although he has numerous directorial credits already, I am not overly familiar with the filmography of Richard LaGravenese. I have seen some of the features that he has written, including the fantastic The Fisher King, but nothing of his work that had him sitting in the big chair on set. Writer Carrie Solomon is also someone I am not too familiar with, but that's because this is her first big feature after holding a few production assistant roles on various projects (which is something to make you wonder how much of this is based on a strange reality that us normal people struggle to comprehend). I hope to see much more from Solomon in the future, she's got a great writing style that blends the melodrama with some good laughs, and just a pinch of raunch to keep things skating close to the realm of the spicy (relatively speaking).

The cast helps though, in many ways. While they don't have sparks flying between them, both Efron and Kidman are beautiful people who you could imagine falling for one another. The problem maybe lies with Kidman having to spend some time pretending she can hide her light under a bushel, and also having her character being a bit too restrained to allow herself to have as much fun as possible, but Efron doesn't need to worry about that. He has a blast portraying his character as the most ridiculously selfish and needy star you could imagine, although it's nice when the script also allows him to have just enough self-awareness to also occasionally poke fun at his lifestyle. King is also a lot of fun, very good with the sharp dialogue and the physical comedy she is given, and Kathy Bates pops up to play the wise and kindly grandmother in a turn so sweet and lovely that you can almost forget that time she hobbled a stranded writer in her home. Almost. 

This kept me chuckling throughout, it gave me a central relationship that I eventually felt invested in, and there were a few big laughs sprinkled throughout the 111-minute runtime (which felt nice and brisk, compared to the stream of movies that seemingly have to hit the 2-hour mark nowadays). The soundtrack is decent, the visuals help to keep things romantic (there's even a holiday sequence, because Christmas trimmings always add to the dream of an ideal love, for some reason), and the finale is as predictable and satisfying as you'd expect.

I'm not sure whether I would necessarily recommend a double-bill of this and The Idea Of You, but you could certainly do a lot worse. I rate both of them equally, but for different reasons, and if you had a good time with one then you're unlikely to hate the other.

7/10

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Prime Time: Ricky Stanicky (2024)

I saw the trailer for Ricky Stanicky a couple of months ago and I wasn’t happy. First of all, it looked dire. Second, I knew I would still eventually watch it. And so here we are, but was it as dire as the trailer made it out to be?

After a childhood incident that requires some quick creativity, three friends realise how much they can help themselves by making use of an imaginary friend, named Ricky Stanicky. Ricky can be blamed for many  misadventures, he can be used to get out of other obligations, and life is just better with him available. That is, of course, until things are complicated by people wanting to meet Ricky. With the alternative option (coming clean after many years) not really an option at all, our main characters hire an adult entertainer/actor (John Cena) they met in Atlantic City. 

Starring Zak Efron, Andrew Santino, and Jermaine Fowler as the friends who keep the secret of Ricky Stanicky between them, this is a fairly enjoyable and predictable comedy that would have really benefited from pushing into much more outrageous and bawdier territory (which people might have expected from director Peter Farrelly, although he has certainly settled in to helming much mellower fare over the past decade). I enjoyed the leads well enough, but there should have been someone else on the mix, someone to help add laughs and elevate every scene. Santino is clearly positioned here as the most comedic of the cast, setting aside Cena for the moment, but he just isn’t good enough.

I am surprised that this doesn’t feel like a bigger mess though, considering at least half a dozen writers were responsible for the screenplay. While it lacks any big laughs, and even skimps on the milder chuckles, it works well for most of the runtime due to the potential of the premise. There’s also a very enjoyable second act that shows “Ricky” stealing the show and living up to his legendary reputation.

Efron has always been someone I enjoy seeing onscreen, and he is fine here as the man who desperately hopes to get through a busy time without being caught out for his many lies. Santino is okay, but not as funny as he should be, and the same can be said of Fowler, who is given a plot strand that never feels fully developed, making you wonder why it was included anyway. Lex Scott Davis and Anja Savcic have a few good moments, playing the partners of Efron and Santino, respectively, and William H. Macy is fun as their boss (accompanied in one or two scenes by Jane Badler, playing his wife). Cena is the star though, given another chance to showcase his comedy chops, and he tries hard to make up for the weaknesses elsewhere in the script, whether oozing confidence and knowledge about subjects that Ricky should be fluent in or being shown performing his act onstage as “Rock-Hard Rod”. He’s certainly game to give anything a go, and I appreciate how well he transitioned from one incarnation of his personality to the next, sensing an opportunity to turn Ricky into his big break.

The enthusiasm and talent of Cena isn’t enough though. This isn’t a good movie, although it also isn’t the horrible car crash I thought it might be. It’s just average. I was moderately entertained while it was on, but I am never going to revisit it. At least it doesn’t end in a way that seems to set up any sequel opportunities. There should only ever be one Ricky Stanicky.

5/10

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Firestarter (2022)

As much as I have enjoyed his work over the years, Stephen King is very hit and miss when it comes to his work. Anyone so prolific is going to be. And filmed adaptations of his work have been even more hit and miss. Yes, we got The Shining, Carrie, and the likes of Stand By Me. But we also got The Mangler and The Langoliers (which I mention here as an oft-cited example, despite my own affection for it). Firestarter was originally adapted for the screen back in 1984, and most people would agree that it was an imperfect little film, at best. Drew Barrymore did well in the lead role, David Keith was great, but it couldn't do justice to a story that wasn't the strongest in the first place. And George C. Scott is, well, interesting to watch. This is all my way of saying that, yes, Firestarter was something that was arguably worth having another shot at. I'm not sure this end result was really the way to go though, especially as it is hampered while trying to stick so closely to the source material.

Directed by Keith Thomas, who made a strong impression on many people with his horror feature debut, The Vigil, this casts Ryan Kiera Armstrong in the important central role, the pyrokinetic Charlie McGee, and Zac Efron and Sydney Lemmon as her parents, both trying to protect Charlie from anyone taking an interest in her powers while also trying to protect themselves from any temperature-raising accidents. There's definitely interest from a Captain Hollister (Gloria Reuben), who has permitted an "agent" named Rainbird (Michael Greyeyes) to hunt down the family and take possession of Charlie.

Written by Scott Teems, Firestarter is a film that is completely competent, and improves on the original in a couple of ways (not least of which is replacing Scott with Greyeyes). It somehow lacks part of the goofy charm of the original though, which also had room in the cast for Heather Locklear, Martin Sheen, Louise Fletcher, and Art Carney (his role played in this adaptation by the excellent John Beasley). Maybe it’s because it cannot replicate just that image of Barrymore looking moody as her hair is blown around and flames start to develop, an image so brilliantly spoofed by Barrymore herself in a wonderfully memorable SNL skit. Or maybe it is because Teems was so set on a faithful adaptation that he didn’t feel as if he could try anything that might improve things further. This is a safe horror movie. I cannot think of anyone who would outright hate it, but I also cannot think of anyone who might end up loving it. The opening third has all of the best moments, and then it just slides down and down from there.

Armstrong is good in the role of Charlie, and she does well with the necessary “look sternly at things until it starts to heat up” expressions. Efron also does well, and gets to have a couple of good moments using his own skill to "push" people, something that is inevitably causing him a bit more damage every time he does it. Lemmon isn't necessarily bad, but she's given the least to do from the main cast members. Greyeyes is a formidable hunter, Reuben does well as the standard head of operations who gravely underestimates the situation, Kurtwood Smith is as good as ever in his small role, and I've already intimated how good Beasley is.

I'll be very surprised if many people can remember this film once the end credits have rolled. Thomas directs in line with the script, safely and competently, and nobody involved gets to put any strong fingerprints on the material, including King. Anyone somehow unaware of the original, novel or film, would probably watch this and think of it as a pale imitation of something that King would come up with. There's no energy to it, no real feeling of people living their lives in this world. No . . . spark.

Maybe someone else will have a go at this material in 30-40 years. Meanwhile, there are many other movies riffing on this kind of thing that are easier to recommend than this, and I would suggest films as varied as Brightburn, Freaks, and Looper for starters.

5/10

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Scoob! (2020)

An attempt to give the Scooby-Doo brand a shot in the arm, Scoob! may fall a bit short for fans due to two main points. And one of those is the fact that the brand never feels like it needs a shot in the arm (and this is from someone who quite enjoyed the live-action movies).

The story starts with Shaggy (voiced by Will Forte) meeting a little Scooby (voiced by Frank Welker, so that is a plus). The two then meet the rest of "Mystery, Inc" before that was formed - Fred (Zac Efron), Velma (Gina Rodriguez), and Daphne (Amanda Seyfried). Years pass by, a montage shows the gang doing what they do (in a wonderfully-recreated copy of the opening titles of the cartoon I grew up with), and life is good. Which makes it a perfect time for the group to be split up, with Shaggy and Scooby meeting the Blue Falcon (Mark Wahlberg), and possibly helping to foil some nefarious plan by Dick Dastardly (Jason Isaacs).

You might have already surmised the other main problem people may have with Scoob! Yes, as seems to be the norm now for companies wanting to get lots and lots of money coming in . . . this film is also an attempt to create some kind of bizarre Hanna-Barbera movie universe. You get Blue Falcon and company, you get Dick Dastardly and Muttley, and you get a small role for Captain Caveman (and whoever thought Tracy Morgan was the best choice to voice one of my favourite cartoon characters was so far wrong that I hope they spend many sleepless nights thinking about what they have done).

The script, written by a few different scribes, works in the first third, generally, before trying to fit the gang into a wider movie universe. Then it all goes to pot, one or two witty, meta lines aside.

The same may be said of the direction from Tony Cervone, although his hands are tied by the script. But everything becomes a long, slow slide downhill once the main mystery comes into play.

The voice voice cast generally do well. It's a shame that nobody offered Lillard the chance to return to the role he made his own, but Forte doesn't do too bad as an alternative. Efron, Rodriguez, and Seyfried are a good match for their characters, Welker does his usual excellent work (which really goes without saying), and Isaacs has a lot of fun as Dick Dastardly. Unfortunately, the rest don't really fit in, be it Whalberg and his companions (voiced by Ken Jeong and Kiersey Clemons), or that unforgivable mis-casting for the Captain Caveman role. And let's not mention the clanging Simon Cowell cameo.

Scooby-Doo isn't a property that you should be able to mess up so easily, certainly not in animated form. But the creative forces behind this film manage it.

Consider my rating generous, with at least one point just for the sweet glow of nostalgia.

4/10
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Hairspray (2007)

Hairspray (1988) was my mild cinematic introduction to the wonderful world of John Waters. I had heard of him before then, having seen an episode of The Incredibly Strange Film Show that had host Jonathan Ross interviewing the great man, but it would be some time before I started to delve deeper into his filmography. To be honest, I still need to see a LOT of his pre-Hairspray films, often forgetting that I haven't seen them because of already being familiar with some of his more (in)famous moments.

Despite Hairspray being quite possibly the tamest film that Waters has ever done, I was still surprised when it was turned into a stage musical. And when that musical version was adapted into a film I was more than just surprised, I was ever-so-slightly outraged. This was also before I was more at ease with the internet. I had less spaces to verbalise my anger and metaphorically stamp my feet about the whole thing. Thank goodness.

Because Hairspray is a lot of fun. Directed by Adam Shankman, it's a film that retains the simple, and wonderful, plot of the original film, adds a selection of decent tunes, and allows a number of stars to have a great time playing larger than life characters.

Nikki Blonsky is Tracy Turnblad, a young girl who dreams about a chance to dance on her favourite local TV dance show, hosted by Corny Collins (James Marsden). That chance comes to her at last, unbelievably, and she starts to do well on the show, which makes her an enemy of Velma Von Tussle (Michelle Pfeiffer), who has been doing her best to ensure that her daughter (Brittany Snow) is the star dancer on the show. Tracy also finds herself in trouble when she becomes active in the growing movement to end racial segregation.

With a tweaked screenplay by Leslie Dixon, and the play by Mark O'Connell and Thomas Meehan to work from, Hairspray works so well because it translates the (I assume) upbeat and fun sense of the live show to the screen with canny casting and vibrant production design throughout that provides 1960s Baltimore as the setting for the proceedings, as well as populating the city with plenty of colourful characters.

And what a cast of characters we get. Blonsky is a sweet lead, and does well with the singing and dancing. Her parents are played by John Travolta (Edna) and Christopher Walken (Wilbur), and both of them have a lot of fun with their characters. Marsden is also having a whale of a time, playing Corny Collins as a sweet and cheesy host with the most, while Snow and Pfeiffer attack their "baddie" roles with great relish. Amanda Bynes, Elija Kelley, Zac Efron, Queen Latifah, and Allison Janney fill out the cast, with all of them given enough good moments to make them worth spending time with.

As unexpected as the origin of this movie is, just be thankful it got made. I still prefer the original, it's a bit sharper and more twisted, but this is a brilliant reworking of the material to appeal to a potentially much wider audience (who might also eventually check out the 1988 film).

8/10

You can buy it here.
Or, in the ol' US of A, buy it here.

That Awkward Moment (2014)

That Awkward Moment is a rom-com aimed at guys. It has moments of bawdiness, but at heart it's just a sappy look at how love can affect even those who try to cut themselves off from it. Buoyed by some decent central performances, this is enjoyable, if forgettable, stuff. Despite the fact that I won't seek it out for repeat viewings, I will happily watch it again if it ends up playing in the background one day while I intended to focus on something else.

Zac Efron is Jason, the seemingly typical young man who starts to blanch whenever women try to define their relationship with him. He just wants to have fun. As does his friend, Daniel (Miles Teller). His other friend, Mikey (Michael B. Jordan), is settled down and happily married. Until the moment that he finds out his wife (Jessica Lucas) has been seeing someone else. Which leads to the three men hitting the town. Hard. They have an accomplice in the form of the lovely Chelsea (Mackenzie Davis), a pretty female friend who seems to enjoy helping them reel in more conquests, and there's only one rule they agree upon: no relationships. Which is when Jason meets Ellie (Imogen Poots).

Efron, Teller and Jordan have a lot of fun here, as is made even more obvious in some amusing outtakes that appear during the end credits. I've always tended to enjoy all three actors (despite Teller annoying the hell out of me in 21 & Over - which seems to have been a blip) and they work well here, both individually and whenever onscreen together. The ladies may be dream ideals, with tacit approval being given to some behaviour most would disapprove of, but Davis and Poots both manage to make the best of their roles. They may put up with more than most, but they also put the men squarely in their place when needed. Addison Timlin is another ideal girl, basically the female equivalent of Jason, and it's interesting to note that the only main female character not shown to enjoy the "cheeky charm" of the menfolk is Lucas, who plays a bit of a baddie.

Written and directed by Tom Gormican, this is the type of film that you should know beforehand whether you're going to enjoy or not. Yes, the trailer has most of the funniest moments in it. Yes, the whole thing is predictable from start to finish. Yes, it's also pretty unbelievable (especially the plot development that concerns the character played by Davis). It's also consistently amusing, moves along at a decent clip, and strides ahead of the other main Efron comedy of last year (Bad Neighbours AKA Neighbors).

6/10

http://www.amazon.com/That-Awkward-Moment-Blu-ray/dp/B00IVLRA9E/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1421407623&sr=8-2&keywords=that+awkward+moment

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Bonus Review: Bad Neighbours (2014)

Bad Neighbours (or just Neighbors, as it was originally titled in America) is one of those all-too-common cinema releases, a comedy that packs all of the best bits into the trailer. And, as is also all-too-common, it's all the more frustrating because it had the potential to be so much better.

Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne play Mac and Kelly Radner, a pair of adults who are trying to hang on to their youth and spontaneity. Viewers know this from the very first scene, which shows the couple trying to have some fun, spicy sex while the blissfully ignorant gaze of their baby daughter proves to be too off-putting. Perhaps the two will just have to accept that their adults now, with all of the responsibilities that entails. In fact, they have to act like real adults when the house next door to them is turned into a fraternity house (led by Zac Efron, as Teddy, and Dave Franco, as Pete). Mac and Kelly initially try to be cool, and even join the youngsters at their first big party, but it's not long until they realise that they have to do whatever it takes to ensure that the parties don't carry on. Teddy and Pete, of course, will do whatever it takes to keep the music loud and the alcohol flowing, and so begins a battle of wills.

Director Nicholas Stoller makes Bad Neighbours very much a party movie. There are loud tunes, neon-infused moments of drunken dizziness, and scenes that focus on general shenanigans. "Isn't this fun?" it seems to say. But those moments jar when the tone shifts, when it becomes clear that it's not as fun as it looks, when it's all about people partying or fighting because they don't know what else to do to reassure themselves of their position in life.

The blame lies squarely with writers Andrew J. Cohen and Brendan O'Brien, who just don't seem to be able to navigate the territory that they themselves laid out. Being unsure about how to mix the laughs with the darker moments wouldn't be so bad if the laughs were funny enough, but they're not. Instead, we get a lot of typical Rogen lines from Rogen, and lots of juvenile gags about penises. I like Rogen, but his character in this movie really needed to be more removed from his usual persona, and it isn't.

When it comes to his performance, Rogen is fine. If you like Rogen (which I do). Rose Byrne is also fine, although she's not treated as well by the script. Ike Barinholtz and Carla Gallo create some laughs as their friends, a couple now separated from one another, which makes for some obvious friction when they have to be in the same space. Dave Franco, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Halston Sage, and Craig Roberts also do just fine in their range of roles; a well-endowed frat member, the girlfriend of Teddy, and a poor, bullied lad nicknamed Assjuice. The worst person onscreen here is Zac Efron, which shows how badly his character is written.

I like Zac Efron, I really do. In fact, if it was anyone else in the role that he has in this movie then the whole film would rate even lower. He manages to improve things slightly thanks to his charisma and, well, sheer force of will. But this role may be the worst that he's ever been handed in his career, so far. He's the antagonist, but he's also given too little depth too late in the proceedings as the writers try to layer the whole film with some meaning that isn't required. This is a film in which the funniest moments include the misappropriation of airbags. Okay, comedies can be layered with drama, but when things are shoehorned in as clumsily as they are here . . . . . . . . it just doesn't work out.

I wanted to enjoy this movie. I'm often a sucker when it comes to any cinema experience. Despite my years of experience, and disappointment, I still watch a well-edited trailer and think "yes, can't wait to see that". And, as many people know, I am easily pleased. It would have only taken one BIG laugh, or a better balancing act between the comedy and the slightly darker undercurrent, and I would have at least thought of this as a worthwhile way to pass some time. Sadly, that wasn't the case.

4/10

http://www.amazon.com/Neighbors-Blu-ray-DVD-DIGITAL-UltraViolet/dp/B00K89VBV0/ref=sr_1_2?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1401224051&sr=1-2&keywords=neighbors

High School Musical (2006)

As I'm often after ways to give my movie watching a sense of purpose, eagle-eyed blog readers may notice certain patterns. For example, I try to include a Hammer movie every week (until I have made my way through most of the ones available to me). There was the Steven Seagal quest that almost broke me. I keep trying to get back to that 1001 Movies To See Before You Die list. And I am currently wrapping up my cinematic journey alongside the great Mr. Kurt Russell. So I asked some Facebook friends what I should line up next. "Get your wife to pick your viewings," someone piped up. Others agreed that this was a GREAT idea. The one person who didn't really like the idea was, funnily enough, my wife. She just couldn't recall what I had and hadn't seen already and had no inclination to pick twenty films, the number I decided to go with. But I kept on and on at her so I guess this is my fault. Yes, I now have to watch all THREE High School Musical movies, but at least have The Mighty Ducks trilogy to look forward to after those.

The film opens during school holidays. A young man named Troy (Zac Efron) and a young girl named Gabriella (Vanessa Hudgens) end up on stage together, made to sing thanks to the supportive influence of peer pressure. The two work well together in their duet, they chat afterwards and exchange numbers and then go their separate ways, unlikely to see each other again. When school starts back up, Troy is amazed to see that Gabriella is now enrolled in his high school. This is both good and bad news. He likes Gabriella a lot, but none of his high school friends know about his singing ability. In fact, his basketball team-mates would probably frown upon anything that didn't help him to keep his head in the game. The whole situation could get slightly awkward, even more so when auditions begin for the new high school musical and Troy finds himself tempted to go along. If cast in the musical, Troy and Gabriella risk incurring the wrath of Ryan (Lucas Grabeel) Sharpay Evans (Ashley Tisdale), a brother and sister act who always go all out for these things, as well as upsetting all of their friends and classmates. And Troy's father, the basketball team coach, probably won't look too favourably upon it either.

Viewing High School Musical and then writing up a review for it required me to seriously recalibrate my mindset for a while. It's obvious that this isn't aimed at an adult horror movie fan like myself. It's a Disney movie full of teens with perfect smiles and musical numbers with choreography that mixes skill with some attempts to be cool (such as the basketball number, "Getcha Head In The Game"). Recalibrating my mindset is nothing new. Most of us do it all the time. You go into a horror expecting something different from when you go into a sci-fi comedy, for example. It's just that some recalibration requires more effort. I can never seem to recalibrate enough to make watching recent Katherine Heigl movies any less painful to watch.

The biggest surprise for me while watching High School Musical was that I ended up enjoying it. I'm not going to say that I tried to sing along to one or two of the songs or that I tapped my feet along to the rhythms. But I did. My wife pointed out when I was smiling and tried to mock me until I just shrugged and admitted that I was quite enjoying the movie.

It's sugary sweet in places, it's completely predictable and it's full of people that you'd never want to spend time with in real life, but it all works as it's supposed to. The script by Peter Barsocchini does what is required to move the characters between musical numbers, and the direction by Kenny Ortega keeps the energy levels up throughout. Basically, it's aimed at about 8-12 year olds and it delivers for 8-12 year olds (just a guesstimate, apologies to any 7-year-olds who love the movie).

The cast all do a decent job, despite all looking as if they have been taken directly from some Good Guy assembly line in an alternate universe. Zac Efron is sickeningly talented and when I can see past the mist of jealousy that descends before my eyes I end up really enjoying his work onscreen (having already seen him in 17 Again and Me & Orson Welles). This was the big break for him and Vanessa Hudgens, and both show why they managed to build up such a big fanbase and move on to other work. Ashley Tisdale and Lucas Grabeel have a lot of fun as the privileged Evans siblings, and Corbin Bleu and Monique Coleman are both fine as friends of the two leads. The adults are sidelined, for the most part, but Bart Johnson is okay as coach/Troy's father while Alyson Reed is fairly amusing as the teacher in charge of the music-al.

You will already know if you're unable to stand this movie at all. If you think that you'll hate it then you'll probably hate it. But if you're looking after kids on a rainy afternoon and one of them wants to stick on the DVD . . . . . . . . . . . you could do a lot worse.

6/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/High-School-Musical-1-3-DVD/dp/B002IAIBY2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1368042376&sr=8-1&keywords=high+school+musical

New Year's Eve (2011)

New Year's Eve is a big, bloated, all-star romance that shows how different people reach big moments in their life on . . . . . . . . New Year's Eve. Written by Katherine Fugate and directed by Garry Marshall, it's happy sappy fluff of the highest order. Originally planned as some kind of continuation from Valentine's Day (which I have yet to see), things eventually changed enough to make this a standalone film although I'm sure that the two easily make up an acceptable double-bill for those who can handle the excess sweetness.

It is, of course, New Year's Eve. One man needs to get to a certain place by midnight to reunite with a woman he has fallen in love with, one woman ends up catering for a gig and party that features her ex-boyfriend as the main entertainment, one mother is determined to keep her daughter from making any big mistakes, a pair of strangers are stranded in a broken elevator, a young man sets out to help an older woman complete a fairly expansive "to do" list, two pregnant women end up with a chance to win a cash prize depending on who has their baby first, a man lies dying in his hospital bed and one woman feels the eyes of the world watching as she tries to ensure that the Times Square ball drops at midnight.

Imagine if Love Actually had been made in America. Then imagine that it was only half as good. You then have New Year's Eve. The writing is just weak and predictable, the direction is just dull and predictable and the only good points about the film come from the few cast members who do well. Zac Efron and Michelle Pfeiffer are fun to tag along with as the former tries to help the latter get through her checklist of special experiences. And then Josh Duhamel is at least likeable in his tale, he's the one trying to reunite with the woman he loves. And . . . . . . . . . . oh no, that's all. Aside from a few cameos from the likes of Hector Elizondo, Larry Miller, Matthew Broderick, Carla Gugino and Yeardley Smith, there is nobody else to praise.

Jessica Biel and Sarah Paulson may not be terrible but they're stuck in a terrible story (they're the two pregnant women). Robert De Niro, Cary Elwes and Halle Berry go through the motions in there tale, which is ultimately pretty dull. Sarah Jessica Parker often annoys me so while she wasn't the worst offender here I still can't say that I enjoyed her performance. Hilary Swank was dull but okay, Ashton Kutcher was okay but dull, Lea Michele was dull and dull and then we get a double whammy in the storyline featuring Jon Bon Jovi and Katherine Heigl. Thankfully, Sofia Vergara is also involved in their pathetic and uninteresting part of the proceedings so she at least brings a bit of energy to the screen.

Overall, this is something that most people will be able to sit through without smashing up their TV but few will end up revisiting. Unless they start feeling particularly masochistic every New Year's Eve.

5/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Years-Blu-ray-Copy-Region-Free/dp/B0058N2SIG/ref=sr_1_2?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1355677261&sr=1-2