Bunny and the Bull - On DVD now

Stephen (Hogg) is a man trapped by routine and lists; he hasn’t been out of his flat in a year lives alone, has relationship problems and definitely has some major issues. One day he begins to recall a trip around Europe he undertook over a year ago with his friend Bunny (Farnaby) when they meet Spanish free spirit Eloisa (Echegui).

Stephen and Bunny’s eventful trip brings both good an bad memories, visits to some of Europe’s more obscure museums (cutlery museum anyone?) and some weird and unusual characters all of this punctuated by Bunny’s compulsive gambling and visits to Captain Crab restaurants.

This was billed as a comedy from the makers of the Mighty Boosh but personally although some of the characters were strange and unusual I didn’t laugh out loud once. To me the film was more of a bittersweet story in which Stephen finds a way to step out of his front door. I suppose I didn’t really relate to any of the major characters and in some respects I found them a bit superficial and ‘nice’ rather than feeling real.

The film looks great the sets are produced in a very innovative way and add a magical playful edge to Stephen’s reminiscing. For me though, this was not enough to sustain my interest and engage with the film. Overall visually great but its not good when the characters appear to be made of cardboard rather than the sets.

Director: Paul King

Cast:
Edward Hogg – Stephen
Simon Farnaby – Bunny
Veronica Echegui - Eloisa

For the official website click here

Doghouse – On DVD now

This British horror comedy twists the classic ‘battle of the sexes’ scenario to the extreme. We begin with Vince, soon to be divorced whose friends decide that what he needs to cheer him up is a lad’s weekend – booze and birds and testosterone. The group of friends take themselves off to the isolated village of Moodley where they hear that there are 3 women for every man – what could go wrong?

Unfortunately the village isn’t all that they expected as the female population has been affected by a classified military experiment that has turned them into flesh eating zombies – feeding off the men and guess who are now on the menu.

I came to this film with not many expectations, the only thing I knew about it was that Noel Clark and Danny Dyer are in it and it’s a British zombie film. I suppose that should have meant that I had nothing to loose by watching it which I guess is just as well as this film disappointed on many levels.

The male vs. female premise was flimsy and crude to say the least, for me I cannot understand why you would feel sympathy for a bunch of misogynists, admittedly some of the characters are not – token gay guy for instance but they are few in number and largely underdeveloped. As for the portrayal of women from the outset – even before the group hit Moodly they are portrayed as screaming harpies only good enough to be called ‘slag’ or ‘Candy’ and when in the village there are so many more stereotypes it just gets really boring.

The script to largely borrows from the superior Shaun of the Dead, or numerous other zombie films but falls short of being funny. You are much better watching Shaun or Zombieland – at least they deliver the undead and humour. Noel Clarke is also wasted in this movie - he deserves so much more.

All you are left with is a lot of gory effects and the loosest possible storyline – if that’s your thing by all means watch this film.

Director: Jake West

Cast:
Danny Dyer – Neil
Stephen Graham – Vince
Noel Clarke – Mikey
Terry Stone – Sgt Gavin Wright
Christina Cole – Candy

For the official website click here

Zombieland – on DVD now

Take four mismatched survivors of a Zombie invasion in the US, add lots of guns, lots of blood (and guts) and above all lots of humour and there you have the main ingredients in Zombieland! Firstly you have Columbus (Eisenberg) an awkward shy loner with phobias, who is overly cautious he teams up with Tallahassee a gun totting wise cracking zombie slayer on a mission to get the last Twinkie on earth. The two are joined by Wichita and Little Rock and the foursome head off to LA.

What is it about Zombies that makes them the prime ingredient for horror / comedy movies, first there was Shaun of the Dead and now Zombieland. Its gory, touching, silly and laugh out loud funny. I love the references to Columbus’s guide to survival and although it occasionally gets cheesy the rest of the film more than makes up for it – including the ‘surprise’ celebrity cameo that everyone has heard about.

Harrelson is great as Tallahassee – hes like a young Dennis Hopper with a southern accent and very big guns and he plays the complete opposite to Eisenberg – who plays the sensitive geeky guy perfectly. The film has a great script and if you can stomach the gory Zombies and cartoonish violence it’s a film well worth a look.

Directed by Ruben Fleischer

Cast:

Woody Harrelson – Tallahassee
Jesse Eisenberg – Columbus
Emma Stone – Wichita
Abigail Breslin – Little Rock


For the official website click here

The Hangover – On DVD now

Three guys wake up in a Las Vegas hotel suite with a tiger and a baby, none of them can remember the stag do the night before and none of them can remember where the groom is so begins a frantic search through Vegas for clues to their wild night on the town and to find the missing groom.

This film is a rare and precious thing it has a cast of relative unknowns and a stag do in Vegas with bad consequences is not a new idea but it is really funny and it works really well. The three stag do survivors are also great characters each quite individual and yes the story does involve a wedding chapel, gangsters, gambling and a precious convertible car but the script is so tight it doesn’t become a cliché. In fact I found myself laughing out loud as the nights antics are uncovered piece by piece.

Very highly recommended, one of the funniest films I have seen for some time.

Director – Todd Phillips

Cast:

Bradley Cooper – Phil Wenneck
Ed Helms – Stu Price
Zach Galifianakis – Alan Garner
Justin Bartha – Doug Billings

Click here for official website

Religulous – On DVD now

Religulous is American comedian Bill Maher’s documentary about his search for the reasons for faith. Maher interviews Muslims, Jews and Christians Mormons, scientists and even a Vatican astrologer to try to understand why people have faith. He visits a Creationist museum, which shows dinosaurs and humans living together, and even the Holy Land theme park in Florida where they enact recreations of Jesus being crucified on an hourly basis!

I hadn’t come across Mahar before but had heard that this documentary was good and it was. Mahar seems to hold no questions back in his search for the reason why so many people believe in improbable stories with such devotion they steer their lives accordingly and some even are willing to die for their faith.

I think your enjoyment of this documentary will depend on your view on religion, if you are a believer then I would suggest that this film isn’t for you (even though it wouldn’t be a bad thing to watch it), but if your like me a non believer then Mahers totally inappropriate questions and the facts that he presents prove to be really enjoyable.

Faith is a really strange subject, particularly if you haven’t got it, you don’t understand it and cannot understand why people are so fanatical about it. Maher counters the quotes from the Bible he receives from his interviewees with other less well known biblical facts that turn arguments around. He meets a man who claims to be the second coming, a man who claims his homosexuality was ‘cured’ by religion, scientists and even American truckers who attend a roadside church. It makes for interesting viewing, not more so for the people who have become very very wealthy from other peoples faith. Interestingly one of the most down to earth interviewees is an ex Vatican astrologer.

Its an interesting and funny film, Maher also just about pulls off the tricky task of questioning peoples deep faith and exposing the frailties in their beliefs while maintaining a easy manner and a good sense of humour – watch it if your not going to be insulted!

Director – Larry Charles

Cast:

Bill Mahar – Himself

Click here for official website

Year One - Out on DVD Now

The director of the classic Ground Hog Day has joined together with Jack Black to bring to film a comedy inhabited with biblical characters.

Zed (Black) and his friend Oh (Cera) are banished from their Stone Age village, after Zed eats fruit from the forbidden tree and this leads to a series of adventures in which they encounter biblical characters like Cain & Abel and Abraham and they travel to Sodom. In Sodom they try to free the love of their lives that have been enslaved where they are hampered by a priest and Cain.

I like Jack Black, I like most of his previous films, I like him when he’s at his crazy best this, though, is a film where his humour falls flat. Partly I feel he’s not allowed free rein other times he is hampered by a plodding and flat script. I didn’t laugh out loud once; I might have managed a smile at a couple of points but for a film that’s supposed to be a comedy that’s not a shinning endorsement.

Black plays a ‘zany’ tubby caveman whereas Cera plays an intellectual, sensitive caveman, so why when both actors should be very comfortable with their characters does this film not work. Firstly for me the film doesn’t flow its more of a series of sketches in which Zed & Oh walk through, its like someone said ‘lets get a scene with Abraham, how can we write him in and who can we get to play him’, without any consideration as to how this will fit in with a script. Also am I really supposed to find biblical characters funny?

There is also a emphasis on gross out humour in this movie, there are lots of poo jokes, puke jokes, willy jokes etc etc its not that I’m offended by them its just that they are used over and over again and not to good effect. Year One is like a carry on movie although not as good.

Very disappointing.

Director – Harold Ramis

Cast:

Jack Black – Zed
Michael Cera – Oh
Oliver Platt – High Priest
David Cross – Cain
Christopher Mintz-Plasse – Isaac

Click here for official website

Inglourious Basterds in cinema now Certificate 18

Set in World War II in Nazi occupied France Quentin Tarantino introduces us to his Basterds – a team of Jewish soldiers lead by American Lt Aldo Raine (Pitt). Tarantino gives us his spin on World War II. The Basterds are a team of Nazi hunters striking fear in the Third Reich as they hunt the German army planning intent on getting Raine his 100 Nazi scalps.

The film also concerns Shosanna (Laurent) a woman who survived the massacre of her family and ends up in Nazi occupied Paris running a cinema. Her life is changed when her cinema is chosen to host the Nazi’s latest propaganda film, which provides her with the opportunity to exact revenge on the Nazi officer who killed her family.

To say this is just a war movie is far to simple, Tarantino again produces a clever multi layered story full of colourful characters, quick dialogue (and wonderful accents), great set pieces, violence combined with a great sense of humour. It also a mixture of a Sergio Leoni western and the Dirty Dozen. I expect the flashes of violence and the clever and quick dialogue this was the first Tarantino film where I laughed throughout.

The characters, even the ones where we only see them in snapshot, are all fully formed, there is also such a great comic (and sinister) used of accents it adds to the many twists and turns of the film itself. There is also a real build of tension in scenes, whether you are anticipating the specialist skills of the ‘Bear Jew’ or the outcome of the Nazi premier.

It’s a very good movie, I really enjoyed it – although I didn’t find it as smooth of stylish as my favourite Tarantinos like Pulp Fiction. Its quick multi layered and clever and it will keep you on your toes to the final scene. One word of warning is that when the violence happens it really happens – its worth watching though if you can stomach it.

Director: Quentin Tarantino

Cast:

Brad Pitt – Lt Aldo Raine
Melanie Laurent – Shosanna Dreyfus
Christoph Waltz - Col Hans Landa
Eli Roth – Sgt Donny Donowitz
Michael Fassbender – Lt Archie Hicox
Diane Kruger – Bridget von Hammersmark
Daniel Bruhl – Fredrick Zoller
Til Schweiger – Sgt Hugo Stiglitz
Gedeon Burkhard – Col Wilhelm Wicki
Jacky Ido – Marcel

Click here for the trailer

To go futher click here

Ghost Town out on DVD now

Ghost Town is Ricky Gervais’s first lead role in a Hollywood movie after minor roles in Night at the Museum and Stardust. Ghost Town is the story of Bertram Pincus (Gervais) a dentist who goes to great lengths to avoid all contact with people, which is just as well because he completely lacks any social skills. This all changes when an accident leaves him with the ability to see and talk to ghosts and they seem to have a lot to say especially Frank (Kinnear) a man recently deceased. Frank wants Pincus to get a message to his widow Gwen (Leoni) which means that Pincus needs to fast track his social skills and stop avoiding people.

This film has a good cast and should on paper have worked but the plot was obvious and unsurprising and the film rolls on without offending but also without really pleasing either. Gervais plays Pincus well, his hatred of the human race is amusing as are his attempt to avoid people but I feel in this movie Gervais never really bares his comedy teeth. Kinnear is there to provide the human side to Pincus so it is strange then that that his character is misguided and not actually likeable.

Theres nothing much actually wrong with the movie but there also isn’t actually anything really successful in the film either. You watch the film but know you have seen similar movies done better.

Director: David Koepp

Cast:

Ricky Gervais – Bertram Pincus
Greg Kinnear - Frank Herlihy
Tea Leoni – Gwen

Click here for the offical website

Step Brothers out on DVD now

After the marriage of Nancy Huff to Dr Robert Doback their respective sons, Brennan (Ferrell) and Dale (Reilly), have to learn how to live together. They fight, they sulk, they threaten each other and they hate each other. The problem is Brennan and Dale are two 40 year olds who are acting like 9 year olds.

Neither Brennan or Dale have worked a day in their lives they are both given an ultimatum – get a job or get out, which leads to them becoming friends although that still doesn’t lead to a peaceful household.

Will Ferrell has always been a bit hit or miss, for every Anchorman there is a Bewitched or Talladega Nights but Step Brothers is worth watching if you don’t expect too much. Its funny, silly and yes childish watching Ferrell and Reilly acting like spoilt kids. The films not perfect there are parts when the plot slows down also some of the story seems quite formulaic and this makes the plot predictable but for those minor problems its still fun. It won’t change the world but it should at least make you laugh.

Director: Adam McKay

Cast:

Will Ferrell – Brennan Huff
John C Reilly – Dale Doback
Mary Steenburgen – Nancy Huff
Richard Jenkins – Dr Robert Doback
Adam Scott – Derek Huff
Kathryn Hahn – Alice Huff

For the offical website click here

Role Models – Out on DVD now

Think of two guys (Rudd and Scott) pedalling ‘have energy drinks instead of drugs’ messages around schools. Think of these guys having a particularly bad day when they end up having to undertake 150 hours of community service rather than go to jail. Think of these two guys who can barely look after themselves being put in a position of responsibility of mentoring kids. So begins the predictable but enjoyable film Role Models.

The film will be very familiar to people who have watched the latest wave of comedies like 40 Year Old Virgin, Superbad, Knocked Up etc, it’s humour is crass, unsubtle and slightly juvenile. If you can deal with adults acting really inappropriately in front of kids then this film is fine, although if your likely to be offended then I would suggest you stay away from this film.

The kids who are being mentored are great – there is Mintz-Plasse who stood out as Mclovin in Superbad and the new scene stealing Thompson, who’s rude and shocking remarks may offend some viewers but I personally found him both shocking and funny.
This film made me laugh and although it is crass at times taken in the right way its light-hearted fun. If you liked the movies I have listed above then add this to your viewing list. It may not be as good as Superbad but its still fun.

Directed by David Wain

Starring:

Seann William Scott – Wheeler
Paul Rudd – Danny Donahue
Christopher Mintz-Plasse – Augie Farks
Bobb’e J Thompson – Ronnie Shields
Elizabeth Banks – Beth
For the official website click here