Film Review – The Bob’s Burgers Movie

Posted on May 31, 2022 by simondillon

I’ve not seen the Bob’s Burgers animated TV series, so went into The Bob’s Burgers Movie with absolutely no foreknowledge. Perhaps not always an advisable move. After all, I avoided the Downton Abbey films purely because I’ve yet to watch the TV series. However, in this case, my recklessness paid off. The Bob’s Burgers Movie stands in its own right as entertaining, funny, and extremely silly, packed with hilarious one-liners and a high gag rate, even though there may have been jokes I missed, due to unfamiliarity with the source material.

The plot concerns the Belcher family — the eponymous Bob, his wife Linda, and their three children Tina, Gene, and Louise. Their burger bar is on the verge of collapse when the bank refuses to give them more time for a loan repayment. To make matters worse, a sinkhole appears in front of their restaurant, which leads to the discovery of a skeleton and a murder investigation. With the family business in peril, the children attempt to save the day by skipping school becoming amateur sleuths.

As mentioned, I have no point of comparison for the TV series, but certainly, this looked impressive on the big screen. Directors Loren Bouchard and Bernard Derriman oversee an opulent animated widescreen palette that packs in the blink-and-you-miss-them jokes. I particularly liked the pun-tastic names of businesses; the funeral parlour and crematorium “It’s Your Funeral” next to Bob’s Burgers, for instance. On top of that, there are a few amusing musical numbers and some engaging fantasy sequences (the imagined version of Tina’s school crush, for instance).

Vocal performances (from the likes of H Jon Benjamin, Kristen Schaal, Dan Mintz, John Roberts, Eugene Mirman, David Wain, Zach Galifianakis, and Kevin Kline) are all solid. The narrative is engaging, and there are moments of poignancy in the character arcs, particularly concerning Louise, and her determination to prove she isn’t a scared baby. The aforementioned Bouchard and co-writers Nora Smith and Jim Dauterive imbue proceedings with a kind, charming, good-natured undercurrent. Amid the preposterousness, characters undergo relatable struggles and anxieties, with just the right pinch of offbeat. It never strays into excess sentimentality, remaining energetic and engaging throughout.

All things considered, The Bob’s Burgers Movie exceeded expectations, and I enjoyed it a great deal. I’m now going to track down the TV series.

UK Certificate: PG

US Certificate: PG-13

Film Review – Top Gun Maverick

Posted on May 28, 2022 by simondillon

I don’t know what fountain of youth Tom Cruise is drinking from, but his defiance of natural aging continues to stagger me, with fresh evidence on display in Top Gun Maverick. As producer as well as star, Cruise is very much the creative force behind this legacy sequel, so much so that I had to look up the director, Joseph Kosinski, before writing this review. Normally I know such things from memory, but I’d forgotten his name. Oh well, he’s just the director.

Top Gun Maverick opens as per its 1986 pop culture classic predecessor. The same white on black fonts in the opening titles, the same caption explaining the Top Gun fighter school, orange filter shots of US fighter planes atop an aircraft carrier, all scored to Harold Faltermeyer’s iconic theme, followed by a blast of Danger Zone by Kenny Loggins. Afterwards, we see Captain Pete “Maverick” Mitchell’s ego still blithely writing cheques his body can’t cash, in this case testing a new plane to Mach 10-plus speeds, to the irritation of Rear Admiral Chester “Hammer” Cain (Ed Harris).

Much like Maverick’s superior in the original film, Cain would like to bust Maverick’s butt, but he can’t. He’s been ordered by Admiral Kazansky aka Iceman (Val Kilmer) to send Maverick back to Top Gun. Here Maverick must train a batch of former Top Gun graduates for a nigh-on impossible, Dambusters-style bombing mission to destroy a NATO-defying uranium enrichment plant in an unnamed Russia-ish country. His charges include the son of Maverick’s dead radio intercept officer and best friend Nick “Goose” Bradshaw, Lt Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw (Miles Teller), who still blames Maverick for what happened to his old man, among other things. Needless to say, Maverick’s unorthodox but brilliant methods frustrate and grudgingly impress students and superior officers alike. But will they result in a successful mission against such overwhelming odds?

Screenwriters Ehren Kruger, Eric Warren Singer, and Christopher McQuarrie (working from a story by Peter Craig and Justin Marks) recreate the plot beats of the original film, milking for maximum nostalgic effect. Yet at times, these are deftly subverted. I want to steer clear of spoilers, suffice to say Top Gun Maverick isn’t memorable so much for what happens but for how it happens. As such, it’s a guaranteed crowd-pleaser, especially for fans of the original film.

For those who are somewhat ambivalent about the original (I recently wrote about it here), this still comes recommended, as it’s surprisingly solid. Tom Cruise gives a fine central performance, and whilst the younger actors don’t get much chance to make an impact (save Teller), there is a surprisingly touching scene with a brave Val Kilmer (afflicted with throat cancer in real life). On top of this, we get Jennifer Connelly in a love interest role, playing a character mentioned but never seen in the original called Penny Benjamin. Thankfully, Cruise has more chemistry with Connelly than he did with Kelly McGillis.

Best of all are the truly spectacular aerial sequences, thrillingly bereft of CGI, which look magnificent on the big screen. The finale is edge-of-the-seat stuff, and certainly tops the original in that respect. Harold Faltermeyer and Kenny Loggins rub shoulders with Hans Zimmer and Lady Gaga in a soundtrack that mixes old and new, with the latter’s Hold My Hand clearly positioned as a potential hit akin to Berlin’s Take My Breath Away. Despite my earlier sarcastic dismissal, Joseph Kosinski helms with a sure hand, dedicating the picture to his directorial predecessor, the late Tony Scott.

All things considered, Top Gun Maverick is a large-scale, irresistibly entertaining piece of uplifting nostalgia. It’s an unashamed popcorn throwback, but one with moments of surprising poignancy amid the thrills. Not destined to change the course of cinema, but perhaps destined to be a sizeable summer hit, I’m genuinely surprised by how much I enjoyed this.

UK Certificate: 12A

US Certificate: PG-13

Film Review – Firestarter

Posted on May 25, 2022 by simondillon

Firestarter isn’t one of Stephen King’s better novels, and Mark Lester’s 1984 adaptation isn’t great either. But at least it featured real flames rather than the dreaded CGI pixelations so often seen in modern films, including this new Keith Thomas helmed remake. Best described as deeply average, this bland, generic Firestarter fails to generate any serious heat.

The plot concerns young Charlie McKee (Ryan Kiera Armstrong), daughter of Andy (Zac Effron) and Vicky (Sydney Lemmon). As students, Charlie’s parents both volunteered for sinister government testing programme The Shop, which ended in disaster. Having developed psionic powers, they fled, with the pyrotechnically gifted Charlie a result of their subsequent romantic union.

The novel predates the age of internet and wi-fi, but the film’s setting is contemporary. Thus it is even harder for Andy and Vicky to stay off the grid and move on whenever the unstable Charlie has a fiery incident. Now on the verge of puberty, she finds it harder and harder to suppress her powers, making it all but inevitable that The Shop — led by Captain Hollister (Gloria Reuben) — will eventually track them down.

For a horror film, this doesn’t generate any significant scares, save the alarming I’ve-mislaid-a-decade realisation that Effron is now old enough to play the father of an adolescent. Instead, it feels like a second-rate X-Men origin story. Scott Teems’s screenplay deviates from the source material, most significantly in the character of Rainbird (Michael Greyeyes); a Native American assassin sent by Hollister to track down Charlie. In the novel, he doesn’t have any supernatural attributes, but here, he is also a product of The Shop, and thus also a victim of sorts. I suspect this rewrite is intended as political correctness, but rather than adding nuance, it undercuts his menace, especially in the finale.

Performances are decent enough, with Ryan Kiera Armstrong making a fine impression, but the film feels decidedly run-of-the-mill. On the plus side, John Carpenter provides a score that made me nostalgic for his 1983 King adaptation Christine. That and scenes with curmudgeonly but kind farmer Irv Manders (John Beasley) — again, significantly reworked from what is in the novel — make this just about passable. That said, it’s still a Firestarter that struggles to spark, let alone blaze.

UK Certificate: 15

US Certificate: R

Content Warnings: Violence, swearing, injury detail.

Film Review – Playground

Posted on May 18, 2022 by simondillon

Credit: Lumière, Tandem Films, Vedette, Avalon

Playground, a Belgian film from director Laura Wandel, has a mere 72-minute running time. Proof, if ever any were needed, that length has no bearing on depth, complexity, or overall brilliance. And make no mistake: This is a brilliant film; an immersive, flawlessly acted, rigorously cinematic, unflinching depiction of primary school playground laws of the jungle.

Seven-year-old Nora (Maya Vanderbeque) is clingy towards her older brother Abel (Günter Duret) on her first day in school, wanting to see him at break time, only to have an immediate, harsh lesson in the nuances of playground pecking orders. It becomes rapidly apparent that Abel is being bullied, but not sticking up for himself. This impacts Nora, whose happiness and innocence are gradually chipped away. She runs the emotional gamut of sympathy, fear, shame, lies, and betrayal, as Abel’s ongoing humiliation begins to affect her social standing with her classmates.

The central performances are nothing less than stunning, without a shred of artifice. This doesn’t feel like acting, but rather a painfully real reminder of traumatic, emotionally all-consuming childhood playground interactions. Wandel and cinematographer Frédéric Noirhomme shoot everything from Nora’s point of view, at her level, with teachers and parents mostly an offscreen, out-of-focus presence. There are a few exceptions; a kindly teacher who occasionally helps, and a few scenes with her concerned father. But overall, the adults are a frustration who make matters worse; petty, power-crazed classroom assistants sticking to bureaucratic rules for no good reason, or playground supervisors never present to witness serious bullying.

Every frame of Playground is packed with empathetic, verité authenticity, depicting familiar incident. Childhood games are interspersed with the drip-drip teasing all children endure as a rite of passage. Nora is berated for her punching-bag brother, her out-of-work father, and her inability to tie shoelaces; the latter exacerbated by thoughtless teachers who embarrass her in front of her peers. Birthday parties and who is invited are standard tools to manipulate classmates during playtime.

The threat and eventual arrival of more serious, potentially life-threatening bullying hangs over the entire film like a dark cloud. Nora’s reaction to this is far from straightforward. Nor is her brother exclusively a victim, as he becomes involved in bullying himself, doubtless as a means of moving himself up the playground eco-system with its own code regarding turf and snitches.

As the end credits rolled, I abruptly realised the film contains no music score. It would be superfluous, as the ambient playground soundscape generates an underlying unease throughout. It’s also worth noting this is a film about children rather than a film for children. The target audience is clearly adults, whose protective instincts will have them on the edge of their seats.

Playground is stunning, and I give it my highest recommendation. It is pure cinema; a ruthlessly honest, claustrophobic, heart-wrenching rollercoaster; nail-biting, non-judgemental, sensitive, yet entirely devoid of mawkish sentimental manipulation.

UK Certificate: 15

US Certificate: N/A

Film Review – Father Stu

Posted on May 16, 2022 by simondillon

There have been a lot of sneering reviews of this fact-based, faith-positive tale of Father Stuart Long. Frankly, much of this appears to be prejudice concerning the Christian subject matter, and an ungenerous attitude towards the casting of Mel Gibson, about which more in a moment. What is fair to say is that the film is uneven in tone and arguably a little preachy in some of the latter sections. However, I still found it absorbing throughout, with a strong, committed central performance from Mark Wahlberg. This is clearly a passion project for Wahlberg, as he’s also a producer, alongside first-time writer-director Rosalind Ross.

In 1994, Stuart Long (Wahlberg), an amateur boxer from Montana, is warned to give up the sport by doctors. Frustrated and uncertain as to his direction in life, he heads to Hollywood attempting to become an actor. After chatting up strict Catholic Carmen (Teresa Ruiz), he decides to convert on her account. Subsequently, a religious experience following a motorbike crash leads him to the priesthood, only for a debilitating muscular disease to complicate his newfound commitment to God.

Despite the structural flaws, what makes Father Stu work for me are the performances. Wahlberg is excellent as a determined man who has suffered at the hands of an abusive, alcoholic father (Mel Gibson) that poured cold water on all his childhood dreams. Stuart’s warts-and-all journey to faith — with plenty of plausible missteps along the way — is the beating heart of the film, and it is worth seeing purely for this reason.

At first glance, we’re as sceptical as Monsignor Kelly (Malcolm McDowell) at the unorthodox, foul-mouthed Stu’s chances of making it in the priesthood. But the film does a good job of showing the genuine change in his life. His unconventional approach and clear-headed understanding of Jesus’s life, teaching, and sacrifice frequently prove his detractors wrong. His relationships with fellow trainee priests Ham (Aaron Moten) and Jacob (Cody Fern) — supportive and dubious respectively — are well-handled. One scene when Stu accompanies the latter during a prison visit is particularly telling, as the out-of-his-depth Jacob is ridiculed, only for Stu to step in by speaking to the prisoners in a way they can respect. Incidentally, Fern’s performance is particularly moving, especially in a confession scene late in the film.

Equally good is Jacki Weaver as Stu’s mother, and the aforementioned Mel Gibson. The casting of the latter proved controversial for some, who feel Gibson’s role is too close to the bone, given real-life events in his past. Whilst I understand to a point, I still think his performance was excellent, and we should separate art from artist. For those who can’t, yes, the role has baggage, but by all accounts, Gibson is a repentant man. Perhaps his involvement constitutes a form of penance, or a self-aware acknowledgement of his failings, especially considering the redemptive nature of the story. Either way, in my opinion, and without condoning any of his past behaviour, Gibson deserves credit for his performance.

I do acknowledge that the film gets a little preachy in a couple of areas, but to my mind, this is largely offset by Wahlberg’s honest performance. There’s nothing fake about his character, and whilst believers will find this story faith-affirming, to my mind, it is still a film all audiences will engage with. Father Stu has its heart in the right place, both as an examination of faith in the face of suffering and adversity, and as an inspiring story regardless of the religious beliefs (or otherwise) of the viewer.

UK Certificate: 15

US Certificate: R

Content Warnings: Strong language.

New Short Story: In-Between

Posted on May 13, 2022 by simondillon

The Fictions publication on Medium published my short story In-Between. Originally conceived as a supernatural satire, this evolved into something far more personal. It concerns a recently deceased man whose attempts to haunt his family are constantly interrupted by ghost politicians attempting to secure his vote in an afterlife by-election. Check it out in full here. I hope you enjoy it.

Film Review – Everything Everywhere All At Once

Posted on May 11, 2022 by simondillon

For about an hour or so, I thought I’d wind up loving Everything Everywhere All At Once. It features an agreeably high concept scenario, a tour de force central performance from Michelle Yeoh, inspired direction from Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (who made Swiss Army Man), plus a surplus of offbeat humour. But in the second half, offbeat turned to insufferable. I spent the final twenty minutes inwardly begging for the film to be over. Why? I’ll come to that in a moment.

The plot concerns Evelyn (Yeoh), introduced in a cacophony of Uncut Gems-style stress amid the laundromat she runs with her husband Waymond (Ke Hey Quan, best known for child roles in The Goonies and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom). Her life is a maelstrom of tax audits, customer demands, spousal arguments that could lead to divorce, and alienation from her lesbian daughter Joy (Stephanie Hsu). She’s also trying to throw a Chinese New Year party to impress her traditionalist father (James Hong), who once disowned her for marrying someone he considered unsuitable. Amid the claustrophobic setting of her home and workplace, Evelyn seems perpetually overwhelmed, her dreams and ambitions crushed by the grind of daily life.

It’s a fool’s errand attempting to describe the sci-fi sensory overload that follows, as projected consciousnesses of other versions of Evelyn, Waymond, and other characters from parallel universes begin to cross dimensions. Their mission is to stop an all-consuming evil threatening the entire multiverse. A plethora of metaphysical martial arts mayhem ensues amid trips to peculiar alternative realities. In essence, it’s the same premise seen in Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness. But although this is the second parallel universe film I’ve seen in as many weeks, the execution of that premise could not be more different.

In addition to the positive elements mentioned earlier, I particularly enjoyed Jamie Lee Curtis’s delightfully deranged turn as a no-nonsense tax officer, who also exists in hilarious multiverse variants. As reality fragments with increasingly bizarre results, the film becomes an all-out assault on the senses. For a time, it works well. Some of the gags are laugh-out-loud hysterical, riffing on everything from 2001: A Space Odyssey to Ratatouille and In the Mood for Love.

The central message of Everything Everywhere All At Once can be summed up thus: Latent internalised homophobia will unleash destructive nihilism that could destroy the fabric of reality in the face of a godless universe where nothing really matters. Or rather, to apply the metaphor properly, it could destroy family relationships. In much of the first half, this message is delivered with wit, invention, and hilariously bonkers surrealism. In the second half, it slowly becomes a thudding bore, grinding on at intolerable length. What began as inspired becomes dramatically obvious, preachy, and eye-rolling. The jokes become tedious. For instance, a running gag involving hot dogs I initially found hilarious winds up flat out annoying. Crasser elements involving dildos and a did-they-really-go-there BDSM gag also failed to raise a smirk as the film ground ever onward. Ultimately, I just wanted the damn thing to stop.

Themes of generational trauma reminded me of Encanto, but just as that film didn’t work for me, nor does this one. For all its existential musings, this isn’t as profound as it thinks it is, nor does it know when to quit. Perhaps that is the point. After all, it is entitled Everything Everywhere All At Once. The film is meant to be relentless. The problem is, I didn’t find the sentimentality of the latter movement relentless in a good way. By the end, I thought a better title might be Everything Interminable All At Once.

This isn’t a film I’ll forget, and yes, it is almost certainly destined for cult status. Many people will love this. Many will find it funny and poignant. Some will consider this review the ramblings of an old cynic who deserves to be castigated for not being able to stomach right-on touchy-feelyness at such protracted and ultimately sermonising length. But whilst there are, objectively speaking, outstanding elements within this tornado of a film, I won’t lie and say I liked the overall effect. My patience with power-of-love platitudes was exhausted long before the end credits rolled.

UK Certificate: 15

US Certificate: R

Content Warnings: Strong language, violence, sexual references.

Film Review – Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness

Posted on May 6, 2022 by simondillon

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness is probably the closest we’ll get to a Marvel horror film. Scott Derrickson, who helmed the previous Doctor Strange movie, is relegated to executive producer status here, after pleading that hoary old chestnut “creative differences”. Entering the director’s chair is Sam Raimi, whose previous superhero pedigree includes the three Tobey Maguire Spider-Man pictures, and Darkman, which may as well be a superhero movie. However, more important for this film are Raimi’s horror credentials, especially Drag Me to Hell and the Evil Dead series. He may be on his best behaviour to keep things to 12A levels (that’s the UK’s version of PG-13 for US readers), but this still has plenty of his trademark scare and visual flair.

The plot revolves around a mysterious teenage girl called America Chavez (Xochitl Gomez), about whom sorcerer not-quite supreme Doctor Stephen Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) is having nightmares. When he discovers these nightmares are images from a parallel universe that really took place, he and America, who has been chased into our universe, wind up on a dangerous quest to save all the universes from a terrifyingly powerful evil force. If that sounds vague and generic, it’s because I don’t want to spoil the action-packed albeit somewhat exhausting plot, best experienced in ignorance of its many twists and turns.

Multiverse of Madness may not make much sense when one analyses the plot more closely, but I’d advise switching off your brain and going with it. For one thing, the performances are fun, with Cumberbatch on winning form, alongside the brilliant Benedict Wong and equally brilliant Elizabeth Olsen, who reprise their roles as Wong and Wanda Maximoff respectively. Gomez isn’t bad either and Rachel McAdams also turns up, as Strange’s former girlfriend Dr Christine Palmer. Alas, the rest of the cast is something I also need to keep tight-lipped about, in addition to the plot, as the surprise appearance of certain characters is another entertaining aspect best left unspoiled.

It goes without saying that visual effects are top-notch, with plenty of inventive, eye-popping fantasy imagery including portals, fragmenting mirrors, distorted realities, inner landscapes, chases, witches, demons, monsters, and superpowered showdowns. There are some splendidly surreal moments, including one involving a tumble through multiple parallel worlds (the dinosaurs survive in one, another is 2D animated), and a fight scene involving manifested musical notes. Speaking of music, Danny Elfman contributes an agreeably propulsive score, and the film’s use of sound is great.

As usual, there are a couple of post-credit scenes, neither of which I’d describe as absolutely essential, but they’re good fun. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness isn’t going to change the course of cinema, but it’s likely to be popular, and it sits solidly mid-table in the ranking of Marvel movies. Anyone who has stuck with these characters this long isn’t going to want to miss it. One other minor criticism: It’s likely to prove baffling for the casual viewer, as knowledge of previous Marvel stories (including TV output like Wandavision) is pretty much essential. And yes, this being a Raimi film, it’s not a spoiler to say Bruce Campbell turns up to rather amusing effect.

UK Certificate: 12A

US Certificate: PG-13

Medium Update

Posted on May 6, 2022 by simondillon

First, my apologies for the lack of Medium update in April. I have been exceptionally busy elsewhere, mostly writing short stories. However, here’s a selection of my more notable Medium pieces over the past couple of months.

Those of you who aren’t Medium subscribers get three free reads per month. However, if you decide to subscribe to Medium to read all my work (and the work of many others), please do so via this link, as it means I financially benefit from your subscription. Thank you for supporting my writing endeavours, and I hope you enjoy the following.

The Authentic Eclectic

Ten Things You Don’t Know About Me

The Dillon Empire is not all it seems.

Plethora of Pop

Sixteen at 16: The Dillon Empire Circa 1991

Underage drinking and top tunes from a halcyon teenage heyday.

The Writing Cooperative

The Chosen One Trope: Is It Played Out?

In defence of fantasy fiction’s most derided cliché.

Fan Fare

A Shop Assistant Told Me Return of the Jedi Wasn’t Suitable for Children

How a childhood encounter with a thoughtless “it’s-the-rules” bureaucrat yielded a gleeful viewing of an entirely age-inappropriate film.