Bill and Ted Face the Music

Posted on February 6, 2021 by Craig M

Viewed – 05 February 2021 online rental

This wasn’t a movie I thought we’d ever see. More or less 30 years since the last one, actor Keanu Reeves has certainly separated himself from that late eighties ‘dude’ persona. This has best buds Bill (Alex Winter) & Ted (Reeves) now middle aged and having not made the big time like they were destined, and haven’t made the ‘song to unite the world’. So when Kelly, the daughter of old time traveling friend Rufus, turns up to tell them that things haven’t turned out well in the future, Bill & Ted learn they have to come up with that song in 72hrs before the fabric of reality tares itself apart. At the same time, daughters, Billie (Brigette Lundy-Paine) and Theordora (Samara Weaving) decide to help by travelling back in time to bring together the ultimate band, using notable figures from history.

It’s a ridiculous story that borrows the plots from both Excellent Adventure and Bogus Journey, which means its kind of chaotic. Thankfully, Reeves & Winter jump back into their roles with ease and their dude banter will always be funny. Considering they have a time-travelling phone booth, the ticking clock plot device makes no sense whatsoever, yet as the dudes bump into different versions of themselves … there’s still fun to be had. As for the daughters of Bill & Ted – their adventure of recruiting music figures is a missed opportunity, with the choice of grabbing Jimi Hendrix, Louis Armstrong and Mozart, followed up with grabbing some cave woman drummer, a no name rapper and a flute playing Japanese woman (??) … surely there’s far more notable figures they could have chosen? Also Lundy-Pain is doing the most cringe-worthy bad-impression of a young Keanu Reeves it’s painful.

On paper this must have looked like a great idea, and at times it is entertaining, mostly down to Reeves & Winter, but the writing is weak and the plot lacks anything even remotely new or clever. As a ‘can they still do these characters?’ experiment it kind of works, but as a worthwhile sequel, not so much.

Verdict: Poor

The Babysitter: Killer Queen

Posted on October 17, 2020 by Craig M

Viewed – 17 October 2020 Netflix

I wasn’t exactly blown away with the surprise sleeper hit that was the first movie, but it was still fun if trashy entertainment with a break out turn from Samara Weaving. However it clearly was popular enough to spawn a sequel. Set three years after the first movie, nerdy kid Cole is now in High School and labelled a bit of a nutcase as he told a lot of people about his babysitter’s satanic blood cult. So yeah he’s having trouble fitting in. One day though his best friend invites him to a getaway on a boat out in the wilderness – yeah, isolated in the middle of nowhere, nothing bad is going to happen, right?

Directed again by McG (Terminator Salvation) this is trying sooooo hard to be a self-referential horror version of Scott Pilgrim vs The World. It has the crazy editing, video game references, and a funky soundtrack. Oh and plenty of CGI gore. The deaths in the last movie were a major plus, and the same goes here – even if they often look incredibly fake. This is not helped by a script that is painfully unfunny, which really needs to be funny. The cast, with many returning faces from last time, are constantly spouting what they think is clever, pop-culture fused dialogue but it has very forced delivery that just falls flat. It all screams of trying too hard.

Don’t get me wrong, I have enjoyed some of McG’s movies in the past, and his style can work given better material … but this just feels lazy. There’s times when it looks like it’s happening on a cheap sound stage, and I could have sworn one bit looked like terrible green screen, and it even has a jump scare that makes zero sense (a peeing gag). The ending was a slight step up, with an interesting twist – but overall this really wasn’t worth it.

Verdict: Avoid

Ready Or Not

Posted on February 17, 2020 by Craig M

Viewed – 15 February 2020. Online rental

Marriage is meant to be a happy time when two people tie the not in hope of spending the rest of their lives together. However, new bride Grace doesn’t quite realise what she’s getting into when introduced to her new hubby Alex’s eccentric, wealthy family on their wedding day. As it turns out each new member to the ‘family’ must undergo an initiation before they can be truly accepted. So sets forth a wedding night quite unlike any other.

Margot Robbie look-alike (and fellow Ozzy it transpires) Samara Weaving proves a plucky lead surrounded by colourful characters in this energetic ‘romp’, that plays out kind of like an even more macabre version of Cluedo. The idea however just doesn’t make much sense and when you find out exactly what’s going on it fires up more questions than the movie has any chance of answering. Yet a decidedly tongue-in-cheek tone helps carry the movie, aided immeasurably by its cast who all look like they’re having a riot, and there’s some shocks and surprises along the way, as well as a solid punch-line ending.

The directors have delivered a brash, often cartoonishly violent ride, and that’s almost good enough. However it’s all let down by a poorly thought-out concept that feels like a stretched out segment of an anthology piece than its own movie. Fun, in a purely popcorn entertainment kind of way.

Verdict: Poor

The Babysitter

Posted on November 14, 2017 by Craig M

Viewed – 09 November 2017 Netflix

Netflix have been going from strength to strength of late, what with hit Netflix original programming like Stranger Things and then the occasional Netflix original movies … it seems to be a great time to be a Netflix subscriber. One such movie that caught my eye was this little tongue-in-cheek horror. It tells the tale of Cole, a stereotypical nerdy loner kid in suburban American who is bullied at school and a bit of a mommies’ boy. Thing is too despite not being that young, Cole still has a babysitter – helps then that she’s super-hot. Step in Margot Robbie look-a-like Bee (Samara Weaving) who is not only the kid’s best friend but also keeps a watchful eye over him and helps fend off bullies. When the girl across the road however points out she thinks said Bee is probably inviting ‘boys’ around once the kid is tucked off to bed .. the kid decides to find out if it’s true – and is in for the shock of his life.

Directed by McG this has the same heightened reality, comic-book feel he brought to the two Charlie’s Angels movies, and there his epileptic style with wacky editing and mad-cap characters suited such a venture. However here it feels for the most part over the top. Told primarily through Cole’s eyes it makes sense from a kid’s point of view but for what turns into a gory horror comedy, it creates a rather silly vibe that although fun makes it pretty throwaway too. The characters you see, are not all that engaging and it all gets very predictable. That being said the gore is at times spit your pop-corn out surprising and inventive, there’s some fun pop-culture references and social media obsession digs, and at least does kind of turn into Home Alone meets Buffy The Vampire Slayer (at least tonally).

For 90 minutes entertainment, this doesn’t out stay it’s welcome, has some good jokes and plenty of the red stuff, and performances are adequate, and sometimes that’s good enough. Unlikely to become a genre classic though.

Verdict: 3 /5