The Bob's Burgers Movie (2022)

I have heard people say that you can enjoy The Bob’s Burgers Movie without having seen any of the series it stems from and, while that is true, I would have to disagree slightly. I have only seen the first few episodes, so far, but that allowed me to know the essence of the various main characters from the very start of this feature, which in turn helped me to enjoy the movie even more than I am sure I otherwise would have.

Bob (H. Jon Benjamin) is once again in a bit of a pickle, no pun intended. The burger restaurant isn’t doing great, the bank won’t allow a time extension on a loan due to be repaid, and then, to top it all off, a large sinkhole appears right in front of their main entrance. That sinkhole even reveals a body, a murder victim. This spurs the kids - Louise (Kristen Schaal), Tina (Dan Mintz), and Gene (Eugene Mirman) - to investigate, primarily because they want to clear the name of their landlord and avoid losing their home and business. Meanwhile, Linda (John Roberts) just wants to help her husband feel like a burger king once again.

Directed by Loren Bouchard and Bernard Derriman, with a script written by Bouchard and Nora Smith (every one of them having worked on the show, Bouchard’s creation, for many years), this is a transition from TV to film that perfectly opens up the world we are shown, ever so slightly, without losing anything that made the show so popular with its fanbase.

The voice acting is as good as you would expect, the main cast members have been doing this for just over a decade now and they ARE those characters, to the ears of many people anyway. But there are a number of other treats throughout, particularly the roles for Kevin Kline (this reminded me of how much I love his movie work) and Zach Galifianakis, playing brothers entangled in the murder investigation, and Gary Cole as Sergeant Bosch. I won’t list everyone else who makes a cameo appearance, but you can check through the cast list to find a real smorgasbord of comedic treats. 

The visual style is in line with the show, albeit given a slight excuse now and then to go a bit “bigger and better”, and every character gets a main role in the story without it feeling forced or dishonest. This is an object lesson in how to do this kind of thing, with the one minor criticism being the fact that it can’t ever feel truly cinematic. 

You get some songs, you get numerous puns, you get someone attempting to craft a sexy burger outfit, and you get a dysfunctional family all . . . working their buns off to save their business, even if they have to solve a decades-old murder to do it.

Not unmissable, but absolutely recommended to fans of the show and fans of comedy served up with relish.

8/10

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Birdman (2014)

or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance).

There are times when it's hard to simply sit back and watch Birdman. It's so busy, so layered, and so consistently technically accomplished that the experience becomes slightly exhausting. This is, however, another fine example of form perfectly matching content.

On the surface, Birdman is about actor Riggan (Michael Keaton) trying to gain respect and attention through a new play that he has written, directed, and will also star in. He is supported in this endeavour by a great suppporting cast: Lesley (Naomi Watts), Laura (Andrea Riseborough), and talented-but-infuriating Mike (Edward Norton). There's also his friend, and right hand man, Jake (Zach Galifianakis). And his personal assistant/daughter, Sam (Emma Stone). These people all want the play to succeed, but don't always seem to be on the same page as Riggan. To be fair, that may be due to Riggan's many flights of fancy, involving him hearing advice from the superhero character that both made him his fame and fortune and then kept hanging around his neck like a dead weight, the titular Birdman. This film could have just as easily been titled Albatross.

Created to look almost like one continuous take, Birdman is dazzling and dizzying in the technical department. The edits are all hidden away, and many scenes are filmed with camera angles that shouldn't be possible (e.g. any showing characters conversing in front of a mirror as the camera moves around them). Yet it's this mix of long takes, great acting, and skilled camerawork and editing that helps to hammer home both the similarities and differences between actors and stars, between worthy works of art and entertaining movies. Director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu shows that one doesn't necessarily rule out the other.

The script, written by Inarritu, Nicolas Giacobone, Armando Bo and Alexander Dinelaris, is as sharp as can be, mixing in some fantastic one-liners with no small amount of melancholy and great characterisations. It's smart too, packing every scene with huge amounts of information and detail without ever feeling too dense.

But nothing would work without the central performances lifting the whole thing from the great to the sublime. A lot of praise has already been heaped upon Keaton, and rightly so. He carries most of the movie with a performance that riffs on a public perception of him, playing the vanity and vulnerability with equal accomplishment, and often glee. Norton also riffs on a persona that, rightly or wrongly, he has been given over the years, and he easily holds his own alongside Keaton, although he also benefits from being allowed many of the bigger laughs. Watts and Riseborough both play women who seem to want very different things, but in very similar ways, and Stone gets to do her best stroppy young lass act, putting up defensive barriers when there really isn't anything, or anyone, out to hurt her at this time. Galifianakis joins the long line of comedic performers who can step up to the mark when called upon to try something more dramatic. His role isn't without humour, none of the roles are, but it's far removed from anything else we've seen from him in recent years. Which is a very good thing.

Birdman looks at ego, art, criticism, the difference between being famous and being famous for something notable. It looks at delusion, even illness, and doesn't necessarily write it off as a bad thing. There's nothing wrong with fantasising about flying high up in the air. As long as you don't rush to dive out of the nearest window.

9/10

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Ani-MAY-tion Month: Puss In Boots (2011)

Here it is. The spin-off movie for a character first introduced to viewers in the Shrek sequels. Puss In Boots is a character that I, and many others, enjoyed when he joined in with the other established characters and helped to mix things up a bit. He never, however, seemed like someone who needed his own movie. And Puss In Boots proves me right.

Part adventure romp, part "origin story", Puss In Boots puts Puss (Antonio Banderas) in the middle of an adventure with his former friend, Humpty Dumpty (Zach Galifianakis), and a talented, attractive thief named Kitty Softpaws (Salma Hayek). Will the adventure have a good outcome, allowing Humpty to finally forgive Puss for letting him take a great fall some years ago, or will old wounds be reopened as the trio attempt to get hold of the magic beans that will let them grow a giant beanstalk and grab themselves a golden goose?

Some movies just grab you and some don't. Puss In Boots fell into the latter category for me. So much of the movie has been done before, and done better, and it feels like a trip back to a drying well (although, good grief, there's a sequel planned at the time of writing, so I may be in the minority).

Banderas and Hayek both have rich, warm voices, suitable for their kitty cat characters, and there are no problems with the line delivery. Galifianakis isn't as enjoyable, but he does what's asked of him. The main problem seems to be that the script, mainly written by Tom Wheeler, just isn't good enough. None of the dialogue stands out, and most of the set-pieces suffer from a sense of overfamiliarity (e.g. another dance off, but, y'know, with cats instead of people).

Director Chris Miller doesn't do much to help, but I guess he doesn't have to. There's enough here to make the film passable entertainment, it's not as if I will say that it's a poor film, thanks to the decent animation, movie references, and the fun that comes from heroics being accomplished by such cute cats.

Basically, this is a movie that will probably keep the kids entertained even if it doesn't try to be half as good as it could be. Considering the amount of great family entertainment that has appeared in recent years, that's a great pity, and puts this low on any list of prioritised viewings.

5/10

http://www.amazon.com/Boots-Triple-Blu-ray-Digital-Region/dp/B005A5YYZ2/ref=sr_1_5?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1399902918&sr=1-5&keywords=puss+in+boots

The Campaign (2012)

A political comedy starring Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis as two very different men running against one each other to see who will become the congressman for their hometown.  Ferrell is Cam Brady, the more experienced and ruthless of the two. He's been unopposed for a long time, able to get away with pretty much anything he likes (including some obvious infidelity and lewd behaviour). Galifianakis is Marty Huggins, a simple man who doesn't realised that he has only been picked because a couple of immoral businessmen (played by John Lithgow and Dan Aykroyd) think that he will do whatever they ask of him once he's in a position of power. When Marty first steps forward it seems like some kind of joke, but thanks to some help from Tim Wattley (Dylan McDermott) and the courage of his convictions, Marty soon turns things around to make Brady and his advisors more and more concerned.

While it may lack the big laughs of Tin Men or Used Cars, this is a film very much in that ilk. It may favour dumb fun over smarter gags, but that doesn't make it any less enjoyable. In fact, Ferrell and Galiafanakis both get a chance to play characters close to many that they have played before, with the former being an ass, with arrogance only matched by his stupidity, and the latter being mistakenly written off as nothing more than a dim-witted schlub. They're helped by a great supporting cast, including Brian Cox, Jason Sudeikis, Sarah Baker and Katherine LaNasa, as well as those already mentioned. Baker and McDermott are the standouts, in two very different performances, but everyone does a great job, and it was especially good to see Aykroyd in a role not a million miles away from that of the two conniving businessmen in Trading Places.

The script, by Chris Henchy and Shawn Harwell, laces all of the easy laughs with some salient points and observations, both in general terms when it comes to the world of politics and in relation to specifics that show up what uneasy bedfellows big businessmen and politicians make. It's no surprised to see that Adam McKay helped to come up with the story, considering what he and Henchy were able to come up with for The Other Guys.

Director Jay Roach has been helming comedies for a long time now. Even if he doesn't quite elevate this to comedy gold, it's clear that he knows what he's doing, and the end result is a film deserving of more fans. If you like either of the leads, or if you like comedies that remind viewers of just how childish things can get in the political arena, then this is definitely worth your time.

7/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Campaign-Blu-ray-Copy-Region-Free/dp/B0083SEZV6/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1388242910&sr=8-2&keywords=the+campaign