Tag Archives: Comedy

One Night Only – Movie Review

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TL;DR – This is such a silly premise for a film, but goodness does the chemistry and commitment of the cast make it work.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I was invited to a press screening of this film.

Owen pushing Allie out of the way.

One Night Only Review Introduction

Today we are looking at a film that might have the most preposterous premise for a story, and that is me taking into account that the ridiculous becoming normal is very much the nature of existence in this time we live in. But can you do something interesting with a preposterous premise? A Dystopian Romcon? That is what we will look at today.  

So, to set the scene, in the not-too-distant future, the United States has outlawed sex outside marriage and enforces this via sensor data chips implanted in every person that sends information about your bodies back to the government via 5G. However, for one night a year, the ban is lifted. It is here where we meet Owen (Callum Turner), who is about to propose to his girlfriend (Maya Hawke) over dinner and Allie (Monica Barbaro), who is tired of meaningless hookups and is hoping to find something more meaningful on this of all nights. That is their plan, but like an old general once said, no plans survive first contact with the enemy.

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Ted Lasso: Home [S4E1] – TV Review

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TL;DR – A Kansas City detour to set up the season.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Apple TV+ service that viewed this episode.

Ted Lasso Assistant Manager.

Ted Lasso Review Introduction

Well, it is time for some more Ted Lasso. Now, I am on the record as being very fond of the series, even the weird episodes of Season One, Season Two, and Season Three. But I, like many, thought we were doneski, so colour me shocked when Season Four appeared from the ether. But given the time and the landscape, can it recapture that joy? That is what we are looking at today.

So to set the scene, Ted (Jason Sudeikis) has spent the last few years being the best day he can be to his son Henry (Grant Feely). But instead of coaching football or soccer, Ted is an assistant manager at a local supermarket. But then one day a surprise arrives in town. Rebecca Welton (Hannah Waddingham), Leslie Higgins (Jeremy Swift), and Keeley Jones (Juno Temple) have arrived with a mission. They want Ted to come back and coach their new women’s football team. Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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72 Hours – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A film that is made worse by the addition of a lead character that should not be there.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is a mid-credit scene.

Disclosure – I paid for the Netflix service that viewed this film.

He's Ours! in text.

72 Hours Review Introduction

Today we are looking at a very odd film, because on the surface, this is a comedy that should work, a perfect fish-out-of-water disaster film in the vein of Dude Where Is My Car or Eurotrip. However, there is one narrative choice that permeates the film and makes it worse in every possible way.  

So, to set the scene, Joe (Kevin Hart) is an advertising executive looking to become the chief creative officer. The one problem is that he sucks at connecting with Gen Z, which is becoming a liability to him getting the top job. This is when he accidentally gets included on a group thread for a bachelor party in Miami. It was a mistake, but when the world gives you an opportunity for a purpose-built focus group, you might as well take advantage of it. Though Hunter (Ben Marshall), Freshman (Kam Patterson), Mason (Mason Gooding), and Nick (Marcello Hernández) might not be happy with the exploitation.  

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Among Us (2026): Season 1 – TV Review

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TL;DR – This is an almost perfect adaptation of the original game, full of tasks, murder, and voting people to their doom.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Paramount+ service used to view this series.

The whole crew around a pizza party table.

Among Us Review Introduction

Back at the heart of COVID in 2020, there were a few things that helped get us through it. One of those was this weird little hidden role game where you set yourself a bunch of tasks to complete on a spaceship while one or more of you are aliens trying to kill you. Now, I played a lot of Among Us during this time, and my self-reports were legendary. Which means I am very interested to see how this animated adaptation turned out.   

So, to set the scene, deep in an asteroid field, a bunch of new employees, Green (Elijah Wood) and White (Patton Oswalt), for the MIRA Corporation, have begun the trip up to their new ship. Fun. Engagement. Fun-Gagement. These are the pillars of MIRA. All they have to do is take this new Ore+ from the asteroid to Industria, a simple trip. As Orange (Yvette Nicole Brown) gives them a tour of the ship and the crew, including the doctor Blue (Dan Stevens), we find a whole bunch of quirky characters for a trip like this. It all looks to be going swimmingly, well, you would hate it if there was a secret imposter on board wanting to take everyone else out one by one. Now, from here, we will be looking at the season as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.   

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Scary Movie (2026) – Movie Review

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TL;DR – It is a perfectly okay entry into the series, where some of the jokes still land, but it struggles to find its voice

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There are mid-credit scenes.

Disclosure – I was invited to a press screening of this film.

Ghostface drinking tea.

Scary Movie Review Introduction

Now, before we jump in, I do have something to confess, and on the off chance one of my parents is reading this, maybe skip to the next paragraph. I kind of have a soft spot for Scary Movie as it was the first MA15+ film I saw in cinemas. In that rebellious phase where you realised you didn’t need parental approval to get into the cinemas. As far as parodies go, it was and still is streets ahead of many of its contemporaries and most of the followers that were spawned in the years after its success. But as time went on, the series had diminishing returns as it devolved into a funhouse mirror clip-show of pop culture. However, not only is this latest instalment coming at a time when Horror films are in ascendance, I mean Obsession and Backrooms just killed a Star Wars at the box office. But also, the original creators are back, and I am interested to see if they can bring the same intensity to the franchise twenty-six years later.

So, to set the scene, it has been many years since Ghostface struck, and many think he is a fable, or just a bad horror movie holdover, that is, until he turns up at Tuesday’s (Savannah Lee Nassif) house, brandishing his knife. Tuesday’s stabbing causes her sister Sara (Olivia Rose Keegan) and her not-at-all-suspicious boyfriend Jack (Cameron Scott Roberts) to return home and visit Sara’s mother, Cindy Campbell (Anna Faris), who has been preparing for this day for years. There is a killer on the loose, so it is time to bring the gang back together, including Brenda Meeks (Regina Hall), Ray Wilkins (Shawn Wayans), and Shorty Meeks (Marlon Wayans), before Ghostface kills them off one by one in elaborate referential deaths.       

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Finding Emily – Movie Review

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TL;DR – An oddly charming film that transcends some of the potential limitations by grounding the characters in a clear sense of time and place.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is a mid-credit scene.

Disclosure – I was invited to a press screening of this film.

A poster with "Missing, A Digit of Emily's Number!, you gave me 10/11th's of your number on MONDAY you were a FAIRY I was the guy with no bottle opener who'd really like to see you again Meet ME Where you found me ANY NIGHT 7pm"

Finding Emily Review Introduction

When you have been writing reviews for a while, one of the issues that comes up is that you tend to have seen everything under the sun already. It is like that friend who always knows who the murderer is five minutes into a murder mystery. However, every now and again, a film will catch you off guard, and that is what we are looking at today.   

So, to set the scene, Owen (Spike Fearn) is a caring guy trying to make a life as a sound engineer when one night at a club he is working in, he runs into Emily (Sadie Soverall). They immediately hit it off with an almost electric chemistry. To the point he almost loses his job from having a good time. But late at night, before the clock struck 12, Emily had to run off with her friends to another party, but since they were having such fun, she put her number in Owen’s phone. The next morning, Owen’s brother, Matt (Jack Riddiford) and his partner, Freya (Isabella Laughland), did find a bit of glee when Owen discovered Emily had only given her 10 of the 11 digits of her phone number. But Owen was determined, and Manchester is a university town, so someone must know who she is, right? His first attempt was a failure, but Emily Raine (Angourie Rice) was nice enough to help him on his mission, but her motives might not be all that altruistic.

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Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A wild, chaotic, Canadian ride from start to finish, where you will not know where the film will pivot to next.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is a post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I paid to watch this film.

Bird erupt as two men push a wheelbarrow through the city.

Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie Review Introduction

There is one film this year that has been recommended by every single person who has watched it. I tried to catch it in cinemas, but the times never lined up. However, it is finally out on digital I have a roast cooking in the oven, and winter has hit so you want to be inside watching something wild. It is the perfect combination to see if my friends were right about this film or not.
  
So, to set the scene, 17 years after trying to play a gig by their band Nirvanna the Band at the Rivoli, Matt Johnson (Matt Johnson) and Jay McCarrol (Jay McCarrol) have finally come up with a plan to get the gig. It might involve jumping off the CN Tower to advertise their band to a baseball stadium, and they might not have told anyone about it, and no one at the CN Tower knows what is about to happen, or that they are filming a movie.

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Scrubs: Season 10 – TV Review

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TL;DR – It found its charm at times, but whether it was the short episode order or the passage of time, I just came away feeling a bit hollow about it all.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Disney+ service that aired this episode.

The Hospital entrance.

Scrubs Review –

I came into the first episode of this new spin-off, My Return, with a touch of trepidation. Could a show like Scrubs find that same formula among the cast that worked for almost all its runtime? Can a show both reinvent itself for a modern audience without losing that pull of nostalgia and vibe that made it good in the first place? These are the questions I asked myself this season.  


So, to set the scene, it has been a long time since JD (Zach Braff) worked at Sacred Heart hospital [which was not torn down, I do not know how that rumour got started]. However, while he spends his days being a concierge doctor for the wealthy, it is not exactly a stimulating profession. But as fate would have it, today he is back at his old stomping grounds, because one of his patients got admitted. It is a place of joy with old friends, Turk (Donald Faison) and Carla (Judy Reyes), old mentors, Dr Cox (John C. McGinley), and more recent ex-wives, Elliot (Sarah Chalke). But when JD gets an offer he can’t refuse, his life is about to do a complete U-turn. Now, from here, we will be looking at the season, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead.

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Deadloch: Season Two – TV Review

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TL;DR – This is a series that fires more chaos at you in the space of thirty seconds than I have ever seen fired at you in thirty seconds.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Amazon Prime service that viewed this series.

Warning – Contains scenes which may cause distress.

A Crocodile.

Deadloch Review Introduction

I had no idea what I was getting into when I sat down to watch a Nordic noir translocated into the Tasmanian wilderness, and the crazy turned up to 11. Season 1 was a wild ride, but it was very Tasmanian-coded. So, I was a touch concerned when they relocated the series up north, literally as far as you could get from Tasmania from a distance, weather, temperature, and general humidity perspective. However, given how well the first season went, I had to find out if it could survive the shift, and I can now say that it has not lost one iota of momentum when it comes to the chaos.  

So, to set the scene, up in the Northern Territory, in a town called Barra Creek, a local croc tour is taking a bunch of tourists out on the river. But tragedy strikes when they find the local bull-crocodile has been murdered, but even more concerning was what was in the late crocodile’s mouth. Thankfully, Dulcie Collins (Kate Box) and Eddie Redcliffe (Madeleine Sami) were already in the area and were able to give a hand before the local detective looking into some missing Swedish backpackers came and made a mess of everything. The only issue, okay, one of many issues, is that Eddie used to live here back in the day. Now we will be looking at the season as a whole, so there may be some [SPOILERS] ahead.

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Malcolm in the Middle: Life’s Still Unfair – Season One – TV Review

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TL;DR – While it had some truly wild moments, it always felt that this was a show that had its predecessor dragging behind it like an anchor, and it likely would have worked better if they had cut that cord free more than they ended up doing.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Disney+ service that viewed this series.

The family on a video call.

Malcolm in the Middle: Life’s Still Unfair Review Introduction

I’m going to come out right from the start and say that I am old enough to have enjoyed the show when it originally aired, but beyond the odd episode here and there, I have not seen the show since its original run. I remember enjoying it when it was on, but then I never found the drive, nor was it easily accessible to rewatch it where I live. Coming into this, I had a lot of nostalgia, but also significant distance from the show, and I’m not sure whether that helped or hurt my viewing experience.

So, to set the scene, A lot has happened to Malcolm (Frankie Muniz) in the years since the show aired. He went off to college, had a daughter, Leah (Keeley Karsten), founded a charity, and has gone mostly non-contact with his family. He keeps up the presence, but then always has a reason as to why he is busy. Well, try as he might to avoid it, his parents, Hal (Bryan Cranston) and Lois (Jane Kaczmarek), are about to have their 40th Wedding Anniversary, and they want all the kids back to celebrate it, come hell or high water. Now, from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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