Tag Archives: Comedy

Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A fun blast of nostalgia and charm, but not much more than that.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I paid to watch this film

A crimes lead back to Wallace.

Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl Review –

One of the great joys, when I was a kid, was being stuck in my mother’s university library, bored out of my brain, but then discovering they had this VHS collection of wired animated stop-motion films. It was my first jump into the world of Aardman, and I have always looked forward to a new entry whenever they come out. Indeed, Chicken Run is still in my Top 10 Animated Films of All Time. Well, today, we get to dive into the latest entry and back into the world of Wallace & Gromit.

So, to set the scene, it has been years since the dastardly Feathers McGraw was apprehended by the eccentric inventor Wallace (Ben Whitehead) and his loyal beagle Gromit. Now, the two live together in a house full of inventions, but inventions don’t tend to pay the bills. That is when Wallace comes up with Norbot (Reece Shearsmith), a smart gnome that can clean and tidy gardens. But when Feathers McGraw spots this from their zoo jail cell, soon a plan of vengeance most foul is afoot.

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Nugget is Dead: A Christmas Story – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A wild story of a family that will probably be recognisable to you even in this crazy situation.  

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

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

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

Chaos in the Stools family.

Nugget is Dead Review –

Many things foreshadow that the end of the year is near, the temperatures rise, the rains come in, people care about turkey for some reason, there is tinsel everywhere, and Stan will release their Christmas film. Back in 2023, we got the fascinating Jones Family Christmas. In 2022, we got a Christmas Ransom. And all the way back in the past of 2021, we got the film that started it all: A Sunburnt Christmas. They have all been fun, charming events, and the question is: can that follow that trend in 2024?

So, to set the scene, back in Christmas 2010, the Stools family introduced a new member of the family, the puppy Nugget. Many years later, as the family has grown up and moved out of home, it is once again three days before Christmas. However, as their eldest, Steph (Vic Zerbst), has made the decision not to come home for Christmas, one problem is that she didn’t tell her family. They don’t seem like the listening type anyway, and also Nugget (Reuben) is sick. So, now Steph is going down to visit her family, who does not know she is not staying, and they are A LOT. She just needs to deal with them for 24 hours and escape … if everything goes to plan.

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Red One – Movie Review

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TL;DR – If it was not for a strong start, you probably could have dumped this on Netflix, and no one would have noticed.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I paid to watch this film.

Santa Clause lifting weights.

Red One Review –

It is that time of year, and it is beginning to look a lot like Christmas. The shops are dressed up, there is the looming pressure to finish things up before the end of the year, and walking outside feels like taking a shower with this humidity. It is here that a new flood of Christmas Films will be launched, trying to make the most of the holidays, and that is what we are looking at today.

So, to set the scene, it is a cold Philly night just before Christmas, and at the mall sits Santa Claus (J. K. Simmons), listening to all the kid’s wishes for presents and being protected by Callum Drift (Dwayne Johnson). But this ain’t no average mall Santa because Santa Claus is real, and there is a global military/political/intelligence apparatus keeping him safe. Well, that is until Jack O’Malley (Chris Evans) is paid to hunt down a disturbance in the polar region, and some kidnaps Santa right under the head of North Pole security’s nose on Christmas Eve.

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Saturday Night – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A movie that embraces the chaos of its subject matter with such reverence it ends up hurting the final product.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I paid to watch this film

30 Rock.

Saturday Night Review –

Today, we are looking at a bit of an odd duck of a film. One that swings wildly, stampeding through the chaos of its subject material with the gusto of a rhino in full tilt. However, that approach is going to be a boon or a detriment for you, depending on how you are approaching this film. For me, I am not someone who religiously tunes into Saturday Night Live. Sure, occasionally, a sketch from the show will bubble into the subconscious like Natalie Portman, Undercover Boss, or the recent Mother. Also, the most impacting sketch for me and my comedy journey came almost wholly disconnected from the show. So, you always know it is there, and its legacy in the movies that have and have not worked and the comics it has brought to the forefront. It is within that framework we look at the film today.

So, to set the scene, it is October 11, 1975, and Lorne Michaels (Gabriel LaBelle) is out in front of 30 Rockefeller Plaza trying to get an audience to see his show with an NBC Page (Finn Wolfhard). That is because it is 90 minutes before his first show goes to air, and nothing is going right. The studio is having less and less faith in his vision, the cast is in chaos, the crew is in a state of revolution, oh, is that a fire, and why is there a llama? There are only 90 minutes to pull this all together, but that is going to be hard when there is not even a runtime yet.

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Double or Nothing – Movie Review

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TL;DR – Snippets of chaos that never come together as a whole

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I paid to watch this film

The Gold Coast skyline

Double or Nothing Review –

We are currently in the midst of the Brisbane International Film Festival, or if you are friends, BIFF. It is a cozy festival where I always find a gem or two every year. Today, we are looking at a small Aussie movie filmed in my backyard (metaphorically) about what happens when you get trodden on over and over again.

So, to set the scene, Turbo (Andrew Ian Pope) and Nick (Rowan Howard) are cousins who never quite can get their luck together. Turbo always owes people money, and Nick is just trying to get through his parole without rocking any feathers. But they both need money to survive, and this means doing jobs for their boss, Col (John Jarratt), of a more explosive nature. But when there is a shift in management, the boys find themselves up a certain creek without a paddle.

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Shrinking: Season 1 – TV Review

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TL;DR – This is a delightfully sad, yet also uplifting, series of broken people doing broken things, yet finding the strength to be better in each other.  

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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

Paul on a couch reflecting on his life.

Shrinking Review –

Recently, there has been a running theme of there being a lot of good shows on AppleTV+ that absolutely no one is watching because the channel cannot seem to advertise anything that is not Ted Lasso. Now, while I have jammed with a lot of the sci-fi that they have, like Silo and Foundation, I think this would be an excellent time to see what else the service has to offer. The first stop in this exploration is a show that has been heavily recommended to me, and with that cast, I can understand why.  

So, to set the scene, it is late one night, like 3 a.m., and Liz (Christa Miller) and her husband Derek (Ted McGinley) are trying to work out who is going to go down and tell their neighbour Jimmy (Jason Segel) to turn off their music and stop making noise in the pool. Jimmy clearly looks to be an emotional mess who is trying to self-medicate via illicit substances and people you hire late at night for their professional services. That looks even worse in the morning when you see that disaster unfold with his daughter Alice (Lukita Maxwell) ghosting him, there being no petrol in his car, and a bike that does not quite fit. The good thing is that it looks like Jimmy is going to therapy until you realise that he is the therapist.   

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Wolfs – Movie Review

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TL;DR – This is a film that should have knocked the ball out of the park home run; instead, it just felt like a safe walk most of the time.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

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

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

Brad Pitt and Georgy Clooney draw guns on each other.

Wolfs Review –

Some films just excite you when you hear who has been cast in it. Some actors have built this reputation that if you see both in the same movie, then you know it is going to be good. For example, you know if N. T. Rama Rao Jr. and Ram Charan appear in the same film, it will cause a stir. Well, today, we look at a movie that should have captured that same vibe but instead just fell flat.

So, to set the scene, we open with the sound of a crash, a scream, and then a string of obscenities, as something has clearly gone wrong. What could be so bad, you say, how about a recently dead body of the Kid (Austin Abrams)? Well, after an appropriate length of time freaking out, Margaret (Amy Ryan) phones a contact that she was given years ago, one that can make things disappear. That man is Jack (George Clooney), a cleaner. The only problem is that the owner of the hotel, Pamela Dowd-Henry (Frances McDormand), also witnessed what happened and hired her own cleaner, Nick (Brad Pitt). Now, the two of them must work together as this relatively simple case starts falling apart.  

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Divorce (Rozwodnicy) – Movie Review

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TL;DR – This was a delightfully fun look at trying to work your way through many layers of church bureaucracy.  

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

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

the school band plays in hard hats.

Divorce Review –

If there is one area that deserves a little comedic exploration, it is religion. However, it might also be the most fraught area to explore. To pull it off, you have to have an intimate understanding of the subject matter because it needs to hit home in a realistic manner. Today, we look at a film that might do just that as it explores trying to get a divorce, sorry, an annulment, in Poland.    

So, to set the scene, Małgosia (Magdalena Popławska) and Jacek (Wojciech Mecwaldowski) have been divorced for a long time. So long that Małgosia has married again to Andrzej (Tomasz Schuchardt). Małgosia is struggling to relate to her daughter Ala (Oliwia Drabik), who has a defiant streak. But when her ex-husband Jacek wants to get re-married, he needs a favour. Because his new in-laws want a church wedding, and that means not just a civil divorce, but Andrzej needs the church to sign off on an annulment in an Ecclesiastical Court. It is clear that the marriage has broken down completely and irretrievably, and Małgosia has re-married, so it should be easy … right?    

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My Old Ass – Movie Review

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TL;DR – This is a film that swims through the nostalgia of youth when significant changes are about to come, and you don’t know what the future might hold

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

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

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

Elliott (39) talks to Elliott (18)

My Old Ass Review –

Today, we look at a slightly sweet film that tries to ride the line between a bombastic juvenile comedy and a quieter coming-of-age work. It is a very fine line to walk because there is not a lot of safe ground between those two points. Indeed, I know people who have entirely disagreed on where this film landed. I think I am more in that first category, but that might be just because this film is laser-targeted on who I am.

So, to set the scene, Elliott Labrant (Maisy Stella) has just turned 18, and in just 22 days, she is going to leave the life she has lived on a lake in Canada harvesting cranberries on her family’s farm to move to the big city. But before she leaves, she wants to have one more trip with her friends Ro (Kerrice Brooks) and Ruthie (Maddie Ziegler) out to an island on the lake to camp, chat, and, oh, maybe dabble in some hallucinogenic mushroom. While her friends see many interesting things like rabbit orchestra, nothing quite prepares Elliott to look over and see her 39-year-old self (Aubrey Plaza) looking back at her. They talked about life and love, and her older self warned her not to fall in love with Chad. “Well, that was an odd trip”, thought Elliott, until she found Chad (Percy Hynes White) working on her dad’s farm as a summer farmhand. Oh, and someone put a new contact ‘My Old Ass’ in her phone.

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Jackpot! – Movie Review

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TL;DR – This is a fun film, anchored by a charismatic cast, but you could also feel it was a bit of missed opportunity.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There are mid-credit scenes and end credit scene.

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

Katie win the Lotto.

Jackpot! Review –

There are a lot of ways you can anchor a film, and one of those ways is through an interesting narrative hook. Today we wonder: what would happen if a government authorised a state-wide Hunger Games that was completely opt-in? When you have a good premise, its very existence invokes questions that you want answered, which is what we will do today.


So to set the scene, during the Great Depression of 2026, governments were desperately looking for a way to make money. Enter The California Grand Lottery©. You can be the winner of the jackpot, that is if you can survive until sundown. Until then, you are free game from anyone, and if they kill you, they take your winnings. Just no guns. It is Los Angeles in 2030, and a winner just got taken out by a grandma. But as the jackpot hits $3.6 Billion, child actor Katie (Awkwafina) has just arrived back in town on Lottery Day to try and get back into the business. But when Katie accidentally touches a lottery ticket and wins, then all of Los Angeles turns against her, bar maybe Noel (John Cena) who is protecting her … for money.

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