REVIEW: How to Please a Woman (2022) Starring Sally Phillips

Review by Jon Donnis

Let it be known before I start writing this review that I am a big fan of Sally Phillips and have been probably since her Smack the Pony days, so I might be a little biased.

Sally Phillips plays Gina, a middle-aged woman working in a middle management job, in a middling sexless marriage to a mid-range husband. On her birthday her friends arrange for a male stripper Tom (played by Alexander England) to turn up at her house and give her a show. She turns down the offer of "extras" but instead realising he is booked for 2 hours; she gets him to clean the house.

After being the only one made redundant and hearing that Tom's moving company is about to be closed down by the very same people who fired her, she remembers Tom cleaning her house topless, and the light bulb goes off in her head, turn the moving company into a cleaning company, with the gimmick being that men will clean topless and give frustrated women something to ogle. After Tom has sex with the first client, Gina soon realises that this could be an even better idea, men that will not only clean your house but also take care of those sexual frustrations.

Insert slightly awkward men who quickly learn the art of pleasuring women, as well as the sexual awakening of Gina and you have a very decent comedy drama.

Sally Phillips is of course great as the lead, very convincing as the shy older sexless woman, finding herself not only helping other women but also herself as she grows.

There is some nudity in the film, as well as some nice shots of Sally Phillips bum, now I do not think they used a body double here, but I would like to think that Sally Philips at some point said "I have a great arse, so please get a nice camera shot". But that might just be my filthy mind.

Regardless of that, this is a really fun, enjoyable film, with some great comedy moments as well as some very serious drama, and it walks the line between both very well.

The Good

It has the gorgeous Sally Phillips in it, and she is awesome as Gina. A fun story and satisfying ending.

The Bad

I wish we could have had a little more of the sexual awakening of the Gina character.

Overall

Really good film, I recommend it to everyone old enough to see it.

I score How to Please a Woman a solid 8.5/10

Out now on Sky Cinema, and is screening now in Australian cinemas.

REVIEW: The Gray Man (2022) - Starring Ryan Gosling, Chris Evans and Ana de Armas

Review by Jon Donnis

I always find it fascinating that Netflix will put down $200m for a movie, then basically keep it only for Netflix subscribers. I guess they have money to burn, as I don't think anyone is specifically subscribing to Netflix to see just one film, and if they did they would probably take advantage of a free trial period.

Anyway, The Gray Man is the newest addition to the Netflix line up, and stars Ryan Gosling as "Sierra Six", a CIA black ops assassin who is forced to go on the run after uncovering incriminating secrets about the agency, and Chris Evans as Lloyd Hansen, a psychopathic former CIA agent who is contracted by CIA bosses to capture Six.

The film starts in 2003 with Senior CIA official Donald Fitzroy (played by Billy Bob Thornton) visiting a convicted murderer in prison, the murderer killed his abusive father in 1995, to protect his brother. Fitzroy offers the murderer freedom, but there is a catch, he will have to work as an assassin for the CIA's Sierra program. These assassins work off the books, and take out enemies of the State with no questions asked. The murderer (Ryan Gosling ) agrees and takes the codename Sierra Six. (Basically, known now as Six throughout the film).

Fast forward to 2021 and Six finds himself on a mission in Bangkok, he is told he has to assassinate someone who has been selling national security secrets to enemies of the country. Six is working alongside Dani Miranda (Ana de Armas), as he is about to assassinate the target, a child walks into view, so he holds back, despite his bosses ordering him to take out the target and that the child is acceptable collateral damage. He fakes a gun jam, and moves in to take out the suspect in close quarters instead, after pulling a fire alarm. He takes down the suspect, but before he dies he reveals he worked for the same people who hired Six, and that he was known as Sierra Four, he then hands him an encrypted USB drive hidden in a necklace, and tells him it has details of the corruption of CIA Official Denny Carmichael (Regé-Jean Page), Carmichael is also the lead agent on this mission and Six's boss. When Carmichael is elusive about why this man was to be assassinated, Six refuses evacuation and escapes.

The CIA realise that Six is a problem and now need to take him out. Carmichael hires mercenary Lloyd Hansen, a former CIA agent who was kicked out of the agency for his psychopathic tendencies. It is up to him to track down Six, and retrieve the USB drive.

What follows is a nonstop 2-hour action film, that really does have everything, double crosses, hand to hand fights, car chases, shoot outs, young kid being kidnapped, you think of the action film cliche scene and this film has it.

Ryan Gosling is strong in the lead, and pulls off the calm sort of good guy killer role very well. Chris Evans is excellent as psychotic Lloyd Hansen, you know he is psychotic because he wears a moustache, and the rest of the cast is just full of big-name stars.

The Good

If you like big action, big budget films, then this really does tick all the boxes. Strong characters all around, the multiple fight scenes never get repetitive and they do a good job of changing things up.

The Bad

Sometimes it does all seem a bit too much, and the whole one vs the world story has been done a million times before, and when you have one man taking out what seems like a never-ending queue of bad guys, you might find yourself rolling your eyes slightly.

Overall

I like a big budget action film, and this really did satisfy my genre needs.

I score The Gray Man a solid 7/10.

Out now on Netflix.

https://www.netflix.com/title/81160697

REVIEW: Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank - Starring Michael Cera, Ricky Gervais, Mel Brooks and Samuel L. Jackson

Review by Jon Donnis

Paws of Fury is one of these films that seem to take forever to be released, originally due for 2017! And you can tell as there are a few slightly dated references, a big Gangnam Style number perhaps the most obvious.

Anyway, the film itself is a loose adaptation of the 1974 Mel Brooks film Blazing Saddles, and is full of big-name actors voicing the characters, including Michael Cera, Ricky Gervais, Mel Brooks, George Takei, Aasif Mandvi, Gabriel Iglesias, Djimon Hounsou, Michelle Yeoh, and Samuel L. Jackson.

Set in Japan and a land inhabited by talking cats, we are quickly introduced to Ika Chu, a warmongering  Somali cat, voiced by Ricky Gervais and based on Hedley LaMarr from Blazing Saddles. Ika Chu is a high ranking official of Shōgun of Kakamucho, Toshi played by Mel Brooks, which is basically a version of Brooks' role as Gov. William J. Le Petomane from Blazing Saddles.

Ika Chu is the baddie in this film, and Ricky Gervais plays the character well, although I always think any time a well-known actor plays the part of a cartoon character, that character needs to look a bit like the actor, sadly in this film no one looks anything like the actor playing them, which is a bit strange, because young kids won't know who these people are, so they should have given adults something to notice.

Any who, Ika Chu has a big palace, and it is perfect, well almost, the problem is right next to the palace is the village of Kakamucho, and basically it spoils the view so Ika Chu wants it wiped out, so sends gangs of thugs to destroy it. The village has a Samurai to protect it, but flees when he sees the invasion.

The villagers need a new Samurai, and the Shogun orders Ika Chu to appoint a new one, not knowing that he was behind the invasion.

With this being a world of cats, Ika Chu decides to send Hank (Michael Cera) a beagle dog who was about to be executed, and who dreams of being a samurai, based on Sheriff Bart from Blazing Saddles. Since dogs are illegal in the village, he believes that the town will just kill him.

At first the town wants to kill him, but eventually Hank manages to get Jimbo (Samuel L. Jackson) to train him as a Samurai. During the training Hank manages to take down Sumo, (Djimon Hounsou) a giant dim witted cat sent to destroy the village, by doing this the village finally learns to believe in Hank. Of course, this new found acceptance goes straight to his head, and Ika Chu convinces Hank to go to a club and celebrate (insert outdated Gangnam Style party scene), and while partying the village gets devastated by more thugs since Ika Chu knew Hank wouldn't be there to protect them.

Hank leaves the village in shame when he realises what happened, but of course comes back for the redemption story.

Paws of Fury is a simple yet fun story, a nice enough kids film, that is littered with adult references to keep the parents who are dragged along to see it happy.

The animation throughout is decent, some interesting styles used, voice acting is all good as you would expect from the big name actors.

The film at times feels a bit of a rip off of films like Kung Fun Panda, yet it is based on a 1974 film so perhaps they can get away with a bit here and there.

The Good

Fun story, nice animation, satisfying ending. Only 85 minutes, which the characters like to remind the audience, in a few breaking of the 4th wall moments.

The Bad

I hate films that break the 4th wall, especially cartoons, it is not clever, and kids wont really understand it.

Overall

An enjoyable animated film, perhaps not a cult classic, but will surely deliver a sequel or two.

Good for the kids, and since that is who it is aimed at, they will ultimately decide if it does any good or not.

I score Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank a solid 7/10

Out in Cinemas Now! And you can pre-order the Home Entertainment release at 

https://amzn.to/3zuIITB

REVIEW: Black Site (2022) - Starring Michelle Monaghan, Jason Clarke & Jai Courtney

Review by Jon Donnis

The last time I can recall seeing Michelle Monaghan in anything, was TV show Messiah, which sadly was cancelled after one season, well she is back now and leading the cast in new thriller Black Site.

Michelle Monaghan plays Abigail "Abby" Trent, she works as a CIA analyst. She recently lost her family to a terrorist attack in Istanbul, Turkey, and is still coming to terms with such a loss. Despite this she decides she needs to get back to work, so she can find out who was behind the attack.

Abby soon finds herself stationed at a secret underground black site facility that imprisons the worst criminals and the highest risk terrorists. Just before her new assignment is to begin, a special ops group bring in "Hatchet Meyers", played by Jason Clarke. He is notorious for the way he tortures and brutally murders his enemies, and Abby soon realises he is the one behind the attack that killed her husband and daughter.

Despite this being supposedly the best place to keep prisoners, Hatchet soon escapes, and starts killing everyone at the base, one by one. Throw in some moles working on the inside for Hatchet, and Abby will have a tough job surviving this one and trying to get revenge on the man who killed her family.

The film is slightly paint by numbers, and you will not find yourself seeing anything original here, with that said the film does seem to walk the line between your typical political thriller, and classic evil horror. With Hatchet being the guy methodically taking people out is gruesome fashion.

I am a fan of Michelle Monaghan, and I think she fits well as the strong badass woman lead in this, and Jason Clarke just kind of looks a bit evil anyway, so always happy to see him play the bad guy in a film.

Special mention also should go to Uli Latukefu who plays Captain David Palau, if you are a fan of Young Rock, you will instantly recognise Latukefu.

The Good

Strong protagonist and strong antagonist does help what is a weak script as you want the Abby character to succeed and Hatchet to fail.

The Bad

The script is not original, and a moderate budget stifles the creativity of some scenes.

Overall

This is a 90 minute thriller, which has its high points as well as low ones, I would say there are more high than low, and I would say at 90 minutes it is an easy film to watch.

I score Black Site a fair 7/10

Pre-Order now - https://amzn.to/3HrV2ql

REVIEW: Rubikon (2022) - Starring Julia Franz Richter, George Blagden and Mark Ivanir

Review by Jon Donnis

The year is 2056 and we find ourselves with a skeleton crew of astronauts aboard the space station Rubikon, we have German-born Captain Hannah Wagner (Julia Franz Richter), British male Gavin (George Blagden), and Russian Dimitri (Mark Ivanir).

The world below is facing huge changes to what we know, the world is run by giant corporations where the rich live in paradise while the poor starve and choke. Ok not that much of a huge change, in fact pretty much identical to 2022.

Seemingly out of nowhere, a giant toxic cloud starts to cover the face of the earth, but without any signs of a Super Volcano erupting or an asteroid strike, the crew aboard the Rubikon apparently have no idea what has caused it, nor do they have communications with anyone on earth to tell them what is happening.

The astronauts eventually make contact with people in the bunker, 300 of them, but their oxygen is running out, it just so happens that our space crew have the technology to help them filter out the harmful toxins so they can survive. The question now becomes how can they help, should they risk their lives to save these 300 survivors, or should they just wait and keep themselves safe.

As you will have guessed the crew is an international one, everyone speaks in English of course, which is lucky for the viewer. The film excels at the start and at the end, really delivering a scifi story to captivate the viewer. The cinematography is fantastic, and as the tensions grow between the crew, you do find yourself being dragged in and really caring what happens.

At nearly 1 hour and 50 minutes, the film is quite long, especially considering the modest budget, and the middle of the film does drag a bit. I think this film would improve massively with a much tighter cut of around 85 minutes.

You will probably see the twist a mile off, but it is a pleasing one.

The Good

A well made film on a modest budget, with strong characters.

The Bad

The middle feels like a bit of a grind at times, and really should have been edited down.

Overall

A simple sci-fi film with a respectable plot, decent acting and strong ending.

I score Rubikon a respectable 7/10

Out now on Digitla and DVD at https://amzn.to/3zetJx5

REVIEW: Firestarter (2022) Starring Zac Efron, Ryan Kiera Armstrong, Sydney Lemmon, Kurtwood Smith, John Beasley, Michael Greyeyes and Gloria Reuben

Review by Jon Donnis

Today's film is Firestarter, basically about a young girl who has the ability to set things on fire! Now this is a remake of a 1984 film of the same name that featured a young Drew Barrymore in just her 3^rd film after Altered States and ET. I have to say I do not recall ever seeing the original film, so I come into this 2022 version completely fresh, and without a preconceived idea of what the film should be.

The film starts off with a dream/flashback scene, whereby a baby Charlene "Charlie" McGee (later played by the excellent Ryan Kiera Armstrong), is resting in her crib, when out of nowhere it seems that she starts to set the room on fire starting with the mobile above her. Suddenly Charlie's father Andrew "Andy" McGee, (Zac Efron) runs into the room. Picks up the baby, when suddenly the baby sets on fire too. Andy wakes up in bed in the present. After going downstairs, he finds Charlie sat at the table, now a bit older. After having a nightmare, Charlie is sat playing with a lighter, Victoria "Vicky" Tomlinson-McGee, Charlie's mother, played by Sydney Lemmon joins Andy to talk with Charlie, Charlie's powers are becoming more unstable and they talk to her about how to control them.

We get another flashback of sorts this time through recorded tape interviews with a Dr. Joseph Wanless, (Played by Robocop legend Kurtwood Smith), this time with Andy and Vicky taking part in an FDA clinical trial. The questions start to move towards psychic powers. And through the flashbacks we learn that they are to be injected with an experimental chemical compound drug called Lot-6, which unbeknownst to them, gives them supernatural powers, Andy gains telepathy, and Vicky obtains telekinesis.

Back in the present day, and Charlie has had an "event" at school, and a bathroom stall has exploded after she was being bullied. 

In a secret facility , Captain Jane Hollister (Gloria Reuben) is monitoring Charlie, and goes to meet Dr. Joseph Wanless, he tells Hollister she needs to kill Charlie before her powers become too strong. Hollister enlists the help of John Rainbird, (Michael Greyeyes) a bounty hunter with powers of his own to help track down Charlie.

What follows is a decent horror/thriller. There are quite a few decent set pieces, and plenty of shots of Charlie screaming and setting things on fire, as well as her attempts to develop her powers and learn to control them.

The film starts off strong, the opening scene with the baby is excellent and really catches the viewer's attention, unfortunately things go a bit dull before we get to see the Charlie character really let off the shackles, and that is where the film hits full stride.

Watching this film does make me want to watch the original now, as the original is something of a cult favourite, I hear.

The Good

Ryan Kiera Armstrong is excellent as the young Charlie, and as already mentioned she really nails the role down in the last third of the film, with some edge of your seat action. Zac Efron also puts in a strong performance as the father, and delivers the lines convincingly.

The Bad

Despite being only 90 minutes long, there are some dull scenes which come across as filler.

Overall

I enjoyed Firestarter, it was way better than I thought, and the strong start will help you forgive the dull parts to get through to the final big finish.

I score Firestarter a hot 8/10

Out Now at Cinemas and on Digital (Peacock).

And you can pre-order the home entertainment release at https://amzn.to/3tu6VGe

REVIEW: Lightyear (2022) - NOT Starring Tim Allen - But does star Peter Sohn as Sox

Review by Jon Donnis

In the Toy Story films, there was a toy called Buzz Lightyear, that toy was based on a film, that film was called Lightyear, and this is that film that has now been released, so in some ways this is a prequel to the origin of a Toy from a film that was made 27 years ago.

Now in the Lightyear film, Buzz Lightyear is voiced by Chris Evans, yet the toy that was made from that film, instead of casting Chris Evans, they cast the much superior voice of Tim Allen.

This is what Disney Pixar want us to believe. Can you think of any toy that has ever been released that did not have the voice of the original actor?

First of all, Buzz Lightyear will ALWAYS be Tim Allen, anyone else is just a poor imitation, and with that said, that is the first huge problem with this film. They changed the actor who played the character. So instantly I dislike the new Lightyear, even though it is not the toy character but instead a real character from a film.

Now I have that off my chest, let's get to the story.

Buzz Lightyear is a space ranger in Star Command, and along with his commanding officer Alisha Hawthorne (Uzo Aduba) they explore the planet T'Kani Prime along with rookie Featheringhamstan played by Bill Hader. They soon realise that the planet is already inhabited by hostile plant lifeforms forcing them to make a quick retreat. As Buzz is flying the "Turnip" to escape, he makes a mistake and it clips the side of a mountain and they crash back down on the planet.

The damages mean they are stuck on the planet. Fast forward 1 year and the crew have constructed a colony as well as infrastructure to make full repairs. They have had to develop a new fuel source, Buzz tests the new fuel and tries to make a hypersonic test flight, but something goes wrong and when he lands 4 years have passed due to time dilation.

At this point we get introduced to the real star of the film; a robotic cat called Sox (voiced by​ Peter Sohn). Buzz repeats his hypersonic test flight, but each time the test fails and 4 more years pass. Quickly we see Alisha get older, have a lesbian relationship, because of course they have to shoehorn it in for "reasons". She has kids (despite being a lesbian), and of course one of those kids grows up to be a gay man. And yes, the various relationships are all interracial too. I cant imagine why people have called this film ridiculously "woke".

More and more tests, more things go wrong, and blah blah blah.

This film is everything that is wrong with Disney these days. They do not know how to write good characters, instead they seem to have a check list and they go through each one to make sure they keep a tiny minority of twitter trolls happy.

The result is wonderfully animated, yet with characters that are incredibly dull and unlikeable.

The ONLY saving grace is Sox the cat, who is actually interesting, has some comedy moments and is by far and away the one character that kids will be interested in.

Outside of Buzz and Sox all the other characters are stereotypes, and instantly forgettable. And even Buzz has just lost something about him since they went with Chris Evans.

The film has flopped in the cinemas and I can understand why. This was a film that never should have been made in the first place as it makes little sense. Fans of Toy Story will hate it because it lacks all of the Toy Story characters outside of Buzz, and they will also hate it because it is NOT Buzz Lightyear the toy voiced by the legend that is Tim Allen.

The Good

The animation is fantastic, and Sox the robot cat stands out as the only likeable thing about the film.

The Bad

Everything else. Poorly written, ridiculous stereotype woke characters, Chris Evans is good as Captain America, but he is no Buzz Lightyear. He should apologise to Toy Story fans right now.

Overall

If a kid has never seen any of the Toy Story films, they may like it as a stand alone cartoon, but for me the film failed in its most important job, that being to entertain me, make me laugh and make me feel engaged with the characters.

Lightyear will quickly be assigned to the trash can of history.

I score Lightyear 0/10, and Sox 3/10, so combining the scores, I have the film a 3/10, and that is purely due to Sox.

Out now in cinemas, but make sure you buy this super cool Sox Plush, Space Mission Robot Cat, Movie-Inspired Talking Soft Toy at https://amzn.to/3o7tDB0

Imagine if they voice the toy cat with an actor other than Peter Sohn, that would be really dumb.

REVIEW: Hot Seat (2022) - Starring Kevin Dillon, Mel Gibson, Michael Welch, Sam Asghari, Eddie Steeples and Shannen Doherty

Review by Jon Donnis

With Mel Gibson taking on more of these low to mid budget films, I can say I am firmly in the approval section, for I like Mel Gibson, and despite his problems over the years, he is a good actor and does bring something to the roles he takes on. With that said Kevin Dillon is the true lead in this film.

Kevin Dillon plays Orlando Friar a reformed hacker who now works as an IT expert, spending his days helping old ladies with their internet routers over the phone. 

After being called into work on his daughter's birthday, Orlando gets on a zoom call with his wife, and with his daughter, neither are very happy with him, suddenly he finds that his computer has been hacked, and a mysterious voice tells him if he gets off his chair, it will explode. Caught in such a position, Orlando agrees to help this mysterious person with some hacking with the knowledge if he doesn't, not only will he go boom, but the mysterious person will go after his family. And even worse the mysterious man has already framed Orlando as the bomber of an earlier explosion.

Elsewhere bomb disposal expert Wallace Reed (Mel Gibson) arrives on the scene with his younger partner Jackson (Eddie Steeples). Can they help get to the bottom of what is going on, and not only diffuse any bombs, but also help save Orlando? Are they trying to recreate the chemistry between Gibson and a funny black guy from Lethal Weapon? Does anyone really care as long as the film is good?

The film has a modest budget, and as such most of the film is set in the office where Orlando is trapped, however there is some great interaction between the Reed and Jackson characters, something I think should have taken a much more central role, as Gibson and Steeples have great chemistry.

There quite a few scenes showing Orlando fake typing, and doing the kind of cliche hacking stuff you have seen in Hollywood a million times before, it comes across a bit like what your granny thinks hacking is as opposed to what it really is.

Throw in an aggressive SWAT team guy who wants to just go in and kill everyone, Police Chief Pam Connelly played by Shannen Doherty who is trying to learn from the mistakes of her past and make the right decisions, and you have a decent cast of characters that although unoriginal do their jobs pretty well.

Gibson works best when he has someone to work off and Steeples plays that part well, Kevin Dillon does a good job as the man with the weight of the world on his shoulders, and stuck in pretty much one position for most of the film.

The twist you will see a mile off, however when it is revealed, they slightly drag it out a bit, but then recover it with the extra bad guy scene at the end, just to send everyone home happy.

In general, I did enjoy the film, however I have a feeling that either something got left on the cutting room floor, or they really did just do one character dirty. I don't want to say exactly what, as I don't want to spoil the film, but I completely expected something at the very end that did not happen, which leaves me wondering why they would do that, when everything else kind of goes according to what you would expect.

The Good

Simple, straightforward action thrillers are what I live for. I do not care if they are that original, I just want likeable characters, decent tension build up, and a nice finale, and Hot Seat gave me everything I could ask for. It may not be Lethal Weapon, but then nothing is.

The Bad

I want to know what happened to that one character, that is my one annoyance with the film.

Overall

I enjoyed Hot Seat, not going to break any records, but a perfectly watchable action thriller that ticks all of the boxes.

I score Hot Seat a solid 8/10

Out Now on Apple TV - https://apple.co/3P6y7DT

REVIEW: Minions The Rise of Gru - Starring Steve Carell, Pierre Coffin and Taraji P. Henson

Review by Jon Donnis

Minions The Rise of Gru is a prequel to the 2015 film Minions, and the 5th film overall in the Despicable Me franchise

Steve Carell stars as the young 12-year-old Gru, and Pierre Coffin as the voice of the various Minions.

The year is 1976 and a young Gru voiced by Steve Carell dreams of becoming a supervillain, he has even hired his own little Minions to help him.

One day Gru receives an audition invitation from the Vicious 6, a Supervillain gang led by Belle Bottom (voiced by Taraji P. Henson), they have recently turned on the founder of their group supervillain Wild Knuckles (voiced by Alan Arkin) while stealing the Zodiac Stone and kicked him out of the group, and presume he is now dead.

Gru attends the audition along with other supervillain wannabes, but the interview goes badly, and they mock Gru due to his age. Somehow however Gru manages to steal the Zodiac Stone from them, he escapes with Minions Kevin, Stuart, and Bob, but when cornered he hands the stone to Otto and tells him to meet him at the basement lair.

Back at the Gru's basement lair, Otto steps forward and hands Gru a large pebble with googly eyes on it, Otto had swapped the Zodiac Stone for the pebble at a child's birthday party. Furious Gru fires the Minions.

Gru goes off alone to find the stone, but is suddenly kidnapped by Wild Knuckles who survived, he wants the Stone that the Vicious 6 tried to kill him for and decides to hold Gru hostage and gives the Minions 48 hours to return the Zodiac Stone or Gru will be killed.

Kevin, Stuart and Bob try to find the stone but fail so instead decide to travel to San Francisco to rescue Gru, Otto meanwhile goes in pursuit of a Biker who has the stone as a Necklace.

What follows is a really fun film, that is suitable for the whole family, not just kids. We have the Minions learning Kung Fu from Master Chow (Michelle Yeoh), we have Wild Knuckles start to bond with Gru after his newest goons leave him, and we have an epic final fight scene that is some of the best animation I have ever seen.

The Good

Minions The Rise of Gru is a funny, clever and kick ass film. I loved it from start to end.

The Bad

Can I really complain about the plot? It is a bit basic, but what do you expect for a film like this? Multi layered character work, and storyline arcs? Some people ask for too much.

Overall

Brilliant film, kids will love it, teenagers will love it, adults will love it, and old people will have no idea what's going on.

I score Minions The Rise of Gru a solid 9/10

In Cinemas Now!

REVIEW: Madelines (2022) - Starring Brea Grant, Parry Shen and Richard Riehle

Review by Jon Donnis

With a short run time of less than 80 minutes, I was pleased to see that there was no messing about at the start of the film, no stupid set ups, no long character development, just straight into what you came to see. Madeline (Brea Grant) and Owen (Parry Shen) have found a way to invent Time Travel. They conduct experiments in their garage funded by private investor, Rory Devonshire (Richard Riehle) who hopes to one day make a fortune from Time Travel. They manage at first to successfully send an orange into the future, just a short distance, enough that they can watch the orange disappear, wait a minute, and it re-appears, after a failure with a small pet, and an argument with Owen, Madeline figures things out and puts herself in the machine. So far so good.

Madeline travels to the future, and after an hour re-appears in the garden. The problems begin the next day when Owen is attacked by Madeline, he accidentally kills her, but wait, Madeline walks out of the house. They soon realise that there was a mistake in the code, and 3600 Madelines will appear in the garden, one per day, for the next 9+ years.

Due to everything they know about time travel, two identical people cannot exist in the same space time, or the universe will implode or something, so they decide that each day they will kill the appearing Madeline, and that must be the reason the new Madeline had tried to kill Owen.

As the number of dead Madelines mounts, an accident occurs where Owen kills the original Madeline. Now him and Madeline 51 will team up to deal with the Madelines! Confused yet?

I won't say much more as it will spoil the film, but if you can ignore the confusing science, this is a pretty decent film, clearly made on a low budget. And by low budget I mean lower than your normal B movie.

This film reminded me of some of the silly sci films made in the 1980s, Weird Science for example. It is just a shame they didn't have a bigger budget for Madelines, as I thought the 3 characters that appear on screen were all really well played. The film is well shot, directed really good despite clearly only having one camera, and limited locations. The special effects are dodgy as you might expect, but not terrible by any means. I never rolled my eyes at the special effects at all.

The Good

A silly but fun film that is punching above its weight in every sense. It should not be a good as it is. Brea Grant, Parry Shen and Richard Riehle are all excellent and do the very best with what they are given.

The Bad

A little more effort could have been made regarding the science, and explaining how it was supposed to work. Perhaps it could also have worked as an hour long Horror Short instead of an 80 minute full film.

Overall

This film shouldn't have worked, but it did. I really enjoyed it, it kept me interested throughout, performances were all good.

Keeping in mind the budget and limitations that the cast and crew had to work with, I score Madelines a solid 8.5/10.

Review by Jon Donnis

Out Now on Apple TV - https://apple.co/3s5HU3p