Review #1,469: 'How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World' (2019)

Loosely based on the series of books by Cressida Cowell, the How to Train Your Dragon series has grown to become the jewel in the somewhat small and dusty crown of Dreamworks Animation. With Pixar killing it near enough year in, year out, the adventures of reluctant Viking leader Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) and his trusted Night Fury pal are the closest thing that Dreamworks have ever come to the quality and visual splendour of its most fearsome rivals. If you've kept up with the series since its debut in 2010, you'll have watched Hiccup grow out of his father's shadow into a battle-scarred warrior and forward-thinking frontiersman, who brought a close to his tribe's never-ending war with the dragons to discover the fire-breathing beasts actually make for useful and loving friends. The second instalment veered into incredibly dark territory, signalling a maturing tone that matched the protagonist's transformation from nervous kid to an innovator destined to change the lives of his people forever.

The third and presumably final entry into the series, The Hidden World, doesn't darken the tone further - it is still a kids' film after all - but you get the sense from very early on that we are heading inevitably towards an emotional parting of ways. Hiccup and his friends continue their quest to rescue captive dragons and bring them back to the village of Berk to live in harmony with humans. The problem is that they've become so good at their search-and-rescue missions that their home is now overcrowded with the lumbering beasts. Hiccup believes their only hope lies in 'the hidden world, a mysterious and possibly make-believe haven at the edge of the world spoken of by his late father Stoick (Gerard Butler). But cracks start to appear in the young chieftan's plans when his dragon and best friend Toothless happens across a Light Fury, the female of his species. Wild and distrusting of humans, the female bolts from Toothless' advances any time Hiccup shows his face to help, and it becomes clear that if he is ever to see his best bud happy, he must also let his dragon run free.

As ever, there's a dragon-hating antagonist to jeopardise Hiccup's plans in the form of renowned hunter Grimmel the Grisly (F. Murray Abraham), whose own mind-controlled dragons have the ability to vomit acid and melt pretty much anything in their wake. He certainly looks and sounds cool, but Grimmel shares much of the same motivation as the bad guys that come before him, and the character really symbolises the film's overall reluctance to dig that little bit deeper. For me, How to Train Your Dragon 2 really stepped up the game for this franchise, but it feels like returning director Dean DeBlois is happy to ease off the accelerator and ride this trilogy-closer out. If this were practically any other series, The Hidden World would be a delightful surprise, offering up great moments like the opening night-time raid and the sight of Toothless clumsily attempting win over his potential mate, the latter proving to be one of the most charming and heart-warming scenes of the entire trilogy. But with the knowledge of how great this could have been, The Hidden World is a disappointment, fizzling out with an ending that undoubtedly satisfies, but when compared to the emotional wallop of, say, Toy Story 3, plays it rather safe.


Directed by: Dean DeBlois
Voices: Jay Baruchel, America Ferrera, F. Murray Abraham, Cate Blanchett, Gerard Butler, Craig Ferguson, Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plasse
Country: USA

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,385: 'Superbad' (2007)

By the time Greg Motolla's Superbad hit cinema screen back in 2007, it felt like this story of two high school boys looking to acquire booze in the hope of scoring with some hot chicks had arrived almost a decade too late. The teen sex comedy craze kicked off by American Pie in 1999 had finally fizzled out, and comedy was giving way to the man-child humour of Adam Sandler and Will Ferrell. Yet like Knocked Up did for the romantic comedy the same year (the two films share many of the same cast and crew members), Superbad digs deep and finds genuine heart as its main characters go to increasingly desperate lengths to finally get laid. This may be because screenwriters Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg had been writing the film since they were teenagers, and the film is clearly based on their experiences (the two central characters are even named Seth and Evan). The dialogue is often so vulgar it makes you wince, but it also offers an insight into what it's like growing up these days. With all the knowledge on offer for these youngsters, the pressure is more about how well they will perform than simply doing the deed.

Seth (Jonah Hill) is a chubby, curly-haired teen whose lowly position on the school coolness hierarchy doesn't stop him from running his mouth about practically everything. He talks to his best friend Evan (Michael Cera) not only about watching porn, but everything from which websites he's considering paying for and all the crazy shit they offer. Evan is more softly-spoken and ethical, preferring to respect women (mainly the girl he's got the hots for) while Seth wails about the sex he could be getting. Like many best friends, they share little in common other than their lack of other friends, but have spent so much time together they've become inseparable. They do have another friend: the small, bespectacled Fogell (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), who is so unpopular that even Seth and Evan don't particularly like him. Today, however, he is their saviour. Fogell has purchased a fake ID that lists him as an organ donor from Hawaii named McLovin, and the trio manage to bag an invite to party, only they are given the task of buying all the booze. The questionable fake ID and Fogell's youthful appearance aren't the only problems standing in their way, as a brush with two police officers (played by Seth Rogen and Bill Hader) sends their night spinning out of control.

Motolla occasionally moves away from the wittiness of the teenagers' word play in favour of slapstick, and these moments don't so much as raise a titter. Seth gets his by a car, and the two police officers (who look like they've wandered in from a different movie) chase an old drunken guy through a bar while fumbling with their weapons. Thankfully, these moments are brief, as Superbad is undoubtedly at its best when focusing on the awkward smaller moments of teenage life. Often they are so nervous they look away or answer a question that hasn't been asked, and when they finally get the nerve to talk, it all comes out as near-incomprehensible gibberish. If you were a nervous teenager of questionable popularity, these scenes will likely strike an uncomfortable, but hilarious, chord. When the bedroom antics finally arrive, they are either a complete disaster or, in Evan's case, events take a surprisingly mature turn. They don't quite know what they want romantically and the movie isn't interesting in exploring it, as the main love story here is between Seth and Evan themselves. Yes, there are shades of homoeroticism in their relationship (with the two heading to different schools, and the fact that Evan is to live with Fogell, it feels like a romantic break-up), but their friendship goes far deeper. Superbad is one of the funniest films of the last twenty years, and somehow one of the most touching.


Directed by: Greg Mottola
Starring: Jonah Hill, Michael Cera, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Bill Hader, Seth Rogen, Martha MacIsaac, Emma Stone
Country: USA

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,277: 'True Story' (2015)

Based on the memoir of the same name by shamed ex-journalist Michael Finkel, Rupert Goold's True Story is a story of amazing coincidence and unexpected friendship, as two unrelated men from completely different backgrounds find their destinies intertwined. At its heart, this is a true-crime drama that flew under many people's radars, which is surprising given how audience interest in shocking tales of murder and the subsequent trials have been piqued by Netflix's many terrific documentaries. Yet the crime itself, which occurs before the film begins, isn't the main focus of True Story. Instead, we get a character piece centred on a busted writer who believes he has been given a second chance, and a man awaiting trial for the murder of his wife and three children.

The film begins with Finkel (played by Jonah Hill) in Africa, interviewing various victims of modern-day slavery. He is seen as a future Pulitzer recipient by his bosses at the New York Times, and has seen many of his previous pieces grace the front page. He is soon brought back down to Earth when his editors confront him about creating a composite character for his latest story, and is soon fired. Other papers want nothing to do with him, so when he learns that a man wanted for murder named Christian Longo (James Franco) has been using his name before finally being arrested, he sees it as his opportunity to drag his name out of the mud. A fan of Finkel's work, Longo grants him exclusive rights to the story, and in return Finkel will teach him out to write, and promise not to publish anything until after the trial. The two become friends, with Finkel going so far as believing they are some kind of kindred spirits.

A lot of time is spent with the two characters simply talking in a room, and it's a nice surprise that theatre director Goold manages to avoid a stagey feel. But what goes down within the prison's visiting room fails to convince as one would expect from such seasoned actors. Franco puts his half-closed eyes and charming smile to good use, but you rarely get the sense that Hill is a writer capable of reaching the dizzy heights of wunderkind status at the New York Times, and he always feels two or three steps behind. As Finkel's wife, Felicity Jones is given little to do at first but gaze at her husband with concern as he pours over documents and Longo's extensive letters, before she locks horns with the slippery inmate himself. Yet these later dramatic scenes seem inserted to add unnecessary emotional drive, or to give the talented actress something to do. Nevertheless, this is an engaging retelling of a fascinating true story which sizzles with tension until the very end. Unless you already know the outcome of course.


Directed by: Rupert Goold
Starring: Jonah Hill, James Franco, Felicity Jones, Ethan Suplee, Robert John Burke
Country: USA

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,122: 'War Dogs' (2016)

There were many shocking and quite unbelievable stories to emerge from the U.S. during the Bush/Cheney administration, but none were quite as fantastical as the overwhelming position 20-something minor-league arms dealers Efraim Diveroli and David Packouz found themselves in. Their tale is utterly preposterous, but entirely true, although events naturally have been dramatised for the film. Like something straight out of a culture-clash comedy from the 1980s, Diveroli and Packouz landed a $298 million Pentagon contract involving over a hundred million rounds of ammunition. The mishandling of the deal and the pair's subsequent falling out was covered in a Rolling Stone article by Guy Lawson, and later in a book by Lawson entitled Arms and the Dudes.

David Packouz (Miles Teller) is a pot-smoking massage therapist working in Miami, Florida, dividing his spare time between his girlfriend Iz (Ana de Armas) and trying, somewhat unsuccessfully, to flog the high-quality Egyptian bed-sheets that he has invested in to retirement homes. At a funeral, he encounters his old best friend Efraim (Jonah Hill), who has made a success in Los Angeles trading in arms on eBay. They rekindle their friendship, despite Efraim proving himself to be a unpredictable loose-cannon, and David eventually joins his chum at his new business venture AEY. With the war raging in Iraq, the government has set up a website offering contracts for weapons and military equipment. David's job is to pick up the crumbs; those small orders the big companies ignore.

There are, as Efraim informs David, a hell of a lot of crumbs, and the two are soon making their fortunes while Efraim indulges in everything from prostitutes to copious amounts of cocaine. The two grew up loving Brian De Palma's Scarface (1983), and imagery from the film adorns AEY's office walls. The same unquenchable greed that possessed Al Pacino's character seems to drive Efraim also, and it isn't long before you can see the inevitable downfall on the horizon. Director Todd Phillips, on the back of those terrible The Hangover sequels, seems to be intent on making a semi-serious film, and wisely takes inspiration from some of America's great dark-side-of-the-American-dream cinematic works, such as De Palma's aforementioned drug-lord saga and Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas (1990). But, unlike Adam McKay's The Big Short from last year, Phillips doesn't have the nerve to go all the way.

Where McKay exquisitely balanced comedy, drama and satire to dazzling effect, Phillips seems too intent on focusing on the goofball antics of its hapless anti-heroes to deliver any real bite. This is a story that highlights many things from the government's irresponsible approach to warfare, the dangerous practice of allowing just anybody to legally deal in arms, and the devastating effects of blind ambition, but these themes are only touched upon. Packouz is essentially our lead character, but he feels like little more than an exposition tool, with de Armas getting the thankless role of the boring partner who must warn her hubby whenever his actions lead him into the dark side. Thankfully, Jonah Hill is a tour de force, cranking his loathsome character up to 11 without ever feeling unbelievable, proving once again what a versatile actor he is becoming. If you're looking for an intelligent satire of a fascinating recent event, then you probably won't find it here, but as a piece of entertainment, it certainly delivers.


Directed by: Todd Phillips
Starring: Miles Teller, Jonah Hill, Ana De Armas, Bradley Cooper, Kevin Pollak
Country: USA

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,106: 'Sausage Party' (2016)

Sausage Party, the latest button-pusher from Seth Rogen and his usual crew, has so far grossed $135 million on a $19 million budget, receiving mainly positive reviews from critics and assisted by strong word-of-mouth thanks to a climactic scene which won't allow you to look at a hot dog in quite the same way again. Essentially a movie about anthropomorphic, sexually repressed food items who long to escape the confines of their supermarket home to reach the 'Great Beyond' - taken home by us humans - Sausage Party is a mixed bag. On one hand, it's a bold religious parable featuring some extremely creative animation, but on the other, at least comedy wise, this is on par with some of Rogen's most mediocre output.

In a supermarket named Shopwell's, the various tasty treats that line the shelves spend their days praying they will be picked and taken to the great unknown by shoppers, who they view as gods. Each morning starts with a sing-a-long, and they try to live their life by a set of rules they believe will led to them being chosen, including no sex until they're out of their packet. Hot dog Frank (Rogen) only allows himself to touch tips with the bun he's in love with, Brenda (Kristen Wiig), saving themselves for the inevitable day when they get carried off into paradise. But with the return of Honey Mustard (Danny McBride), who claims that he witnessed torture and horror at the hands of the 'gods' who devoured some of his friends, Frank sets off on a journey of discovery and awakening.

Similar in many ways to Pixar's Toy Story trilogy, Sausage Party imagines what it would be like if the food we consume to eagerly could talk to each other and wonders what they would make of us. But while Woody and co. would flop to the ground whenever a human walked in the room, the characters here exist in the 'fourth dimension', unseen by humans. This allows more freedom for directors Greg Tiernan and Conrad Vernon to deliver as many outlandish set pieces as they would like, and two scenes in particular - one inspired by Saving Private Ryan (1998) and the other featuring an Irish potato being skinned alive while his friends watch - are actually quite terrifying. The film is certainly at its best during these moments, and there are scenes of real ingenuity amongst the carnage.

The first half whizzes by and is a blast, but then the film seems to lose direction and wander aimlessly from one scene to another. It also struggles to tickle the funny bone, and relies too heavily on tired food puns, familiar shtick from the likes of James Franco, Jonah Hill, Michael Cera, Paul Rudd and Bill Hader, and outright vulgarity. Someone should point out to the writers - which include Rogen and regular collaborator Evan Goldberg - that using "fuck" every other word doesn't automatically make a film 'adult', but quickly becomes unpleasant and completely unnecessary, especially when the characters are otherwise perfectly likeable. Also, the inclusion of Douche (Nick Kroll), the cavity-cleaner who holds a grudge against Frank, serves only a distraction from the more interesting central plot.

Still, despite its many flaws and irritating tics, I very much enjoyed Sausage Party for what it is, and it's like nothing I've ever seen before. If you haven't enjoyed much of Rogen's previous output, chances are you won't love this, although there's plenty of visual splendour to savour in between the dick jokes. At its best, it offers interesting parallels to real-world issues, such as the relationship between a lavash named Kareem (David Krumholtz) and a bagel named Sammy (Edward Norton doing a pitch-perfect Woody Allen impression), and their bickering over shelf space. Of course, this is the edible version of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and while it may embrace comedic stereotyping throughout, Sausage Party never intends to offend, and instead offers a surprisingly sympathetic message about the necessity of religion. Whatever your view, the fact that we live in an age when a film like this can be greenlit and unleashed on a mainstream audience is cause for celebration.


Directed by: Greg Tiernan, Conrad Vernon
Voices: Seth Rogen, Kristen Wiig, Jonah Hill, Michael Cera, David Krumholtz, Edward Norton, Salma Hayek, Nick Kroll, Bill Hader, James Franco
Country: USA

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,037: 'Hail, Caesar!' (2016)

When a film-maker builds up such a formidable body of work, it's all the more crushing when their next project falls somewhat flat. The Coen brothers Joel and Ethan have been churning out genre-bending masterpieces ever since 1984 with Blood Simple, and maintained a healthy independent spirit until they were eventually noticed by mainstream Hollywood with 1996's Fargo. Ever since, despite still serving up great work such as No Country for Old Men (2007) and Inside Llewyn Davis (2013), their filmography has been occasionally blighted by bewildering misfires such as the double-whammy of Intolerable Cruelty (2003) and The Ladykillers (2004). Sadly, they've done it again with Hail, Caesar!.

It's obvious that the Coens hold a keen interest in the old Hollywood system of the 1940's and 50's. They were satirising the world they view with a certain curiosity and perhaps a little disdain back in 1991 with the outstanding Barton Fink. Yet while that film portrayed a bleak, subdued world full of madness and loneliness as John Turturro's titular script-writer struggled with his work and his own demons, Hail, Caesar! is the glitzy, garish world of big-budget biblical epics and movie stars with everything to hide. Studio head Eddie Mannix (Josh Brolin) is the man to try and hold it all together, from having to shield his actors' shady pasts from pesky twin journalists Thora and Thessaly Thacker (both Tilda Swinton) to handling an organisation of academic-type communists who have kidnapped his biggest star Baird Whitlock (George Clooney).

Working almost like a series of loosely-connected vignettes, the Coens also weave numerous sub-plots into the mix. Mannix must also deal with the issue that one of his leading ladies, DeeAnna Moran (Scarlett Johnansson) is unmarried but with child and can no longer fit into her mermaid costume. Singing cowboy actor Hobie Doyle (Alden Ehrenreich), a pretty face more accustomed to strumming the guitar and riding horseback, is thrown into a drama role at the last minute, much to the frustration of sophisticated director Laurence Laurentz (Ralph Fiennes). There are smaller roles also for Channing Tatum, Frances McDormand and Jonah Hill in what is an unnecessarily bulky ensemble that the Coens struggle to keep a grasp of. With no real sense of direction, Hail, Caesar! often feels like a collection of clips from separate, better movies.

Despite the narrative flaws, there's still plenty to savour. Those distinctly 'Coen-eque' moments are peppered throughout, with Hobie's awkward first day on set and Channing Tatum's musical tap-dance being particular standouts. Although Brolin excels and Clooney makes for a very convincing wimp, Ehrenreich is the one who steals the movie as the extremely likeable dimwit who may actually be the only one paying attention. He demonstrates great comic timing and all the charm of the western idols his character is paying homage to, and he seems the perfect fit for a young Han Solo in Disney's as-yet untitled origin story. The film may have even worked better as a whole with Hobie as the lead and doing away with several side-stories. Instead, it is an unfocused splurge of good ideas rather toothlessly executed but wonderfully performed. Definitely lower-league Coen.


Directed by: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
Starring: Josh Brolin, George Clooney, Alden Ehrenreich, Ralph Fiennes, Scarlett Johansson, Tilda Swinton, Channing Tatum, Frances McDormand, Jonah Hill
Country: UK/USA/Japan

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie

Review #802: '22 Jump Street' (2014)

"I want you to do exactly what you did last time!" bawls Captain Dickson (Ice Cube). No-one really expected 21 Jump Street (2012), a re-boot of a long-dead TV show, to be a hit. But it was, and a hit spells sequel in Hollywood. And so returning directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, fresh off the colossal success of The Lego Movie (2014), use 22 Jump Street as a canvas to riff-on the idea of sequels. Actually, to label it as a canvas is not doing it justice - Lord and Miller, two of the wackiest and most inventive directors of our time, stretch it out, beat it with a hammer, and make a strange yet loveable mess out of it.

Schmidt (Jonah Hill) and Jenko (Channing Tatum) do exactly what their captain says and head to college, going undercover to bust yet another drug ring. The film embraces repetition wholeheartedly, all the with a winning wink to camera, so we have a Vietnamese Jesus (as opposed to Korean), a suspicious teacher, explosive action-movie car chases, homoerotic bonding, an accidental drug intake, and plenty of scantily-clad ladies. It's a formula that has worked once already - the first film was a hoot and Tatum truly excelled - so the director's laugh at their own willingness to bend to demand and their audience's willingness to lap it up, but never in an offensive way. Lord and Miller make sure you're in on the joke.

But simply acknowledging the cliché doesn't necessarily mean that it makes for entirely satisfying viewing. The jokes are clever, yes, but it still means that we have to sit through a very similar film as we did the first. This is where Lord and Miller's energy really becomes important, as the visual pizazz and the sheer momentum of the one-liners and zippy editing prove an easy distraction from what could have ultimately been a one-joke movie. In one inspired scene, Schmidt and Jenko trip on Why-Phy (the new drug), with Schmidt having a bummer and Jenko euphoric. They share a split screen, each in their own weird little world, as Schmidt tries to break the barrier into Jenko's more colourful trip. It's a crazy scene, especially for a widespread release, but delivered with such commitment that it proves a ballsy move.

It's a shame that the action scenes get in the way, offering plenty of gunshots and explosions but never really rise above the kind of thing we've been given before in the old action movies it's lampooning. Other aspects also don't quite work  - Schmidt's relationship with the gorgeous Maya (Amber Stevens) just feels unrealistic, Queen Latifah's appearance as Dickson's wife spawns a few jokes that simply don't work, and the whole thing feels over-long. But when it sticks with it's heroes, the film is consistently laugh-out-loud funny, and Tatum again delivers a performance that will leave many scratching their heads in disbelief at the idea that this is indeed the same person as the pouting, dead-eyed twat from Step Up (2006).


Directed by: Phil Lord, Christopher Miller
Starring: Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum, Ice Cube, Amber Stevens, Jillian Bell
Country: USA

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie

Review #801: 'How to Train Your Dragon 2' (2014)

The Hollywood sequel is a fearsome thing. Most notably in recent years, we have seen an endless supply of re-hashes and cash-in's based on it's predecessor's success, commonly to disastrous effect. Animation especially - or even more so, Dreamworks animation - have churned out drivel with no heart; their only intentions being to offer something to parents that will keep their children busy for 90 minutes and to fill their own wallets. Take a bow, then, How To Train Your Dragon 2, which not only capitalises on the first film's charm, off-beat humour and dazzling dragon battles, but deepens it's mythology and expands it's world, while at the same time offering a visual spectacle to delight the kids and pose some extremely grown-up questions to the adults in the audience.

Five years after the townsfolk of Berk were given a lesson in allegiance and acceptance by unlikely hero Hiccup (Jay Baruchel), the Viking village thrives with domesticated dragons. It's chieftain, Stoick (Gerard Butler), has named Hiccup his heir, but the one-legged adventurer is not ready for the responsibility and would much rather be exploring the surrounding areas on the back of his dragon, the Night Fury Toothless. His relationship with the feisty Astrid (America Ferrera) has developed into a romance, and his friends fight over the attention of Ruffnut (Kristen Wiig). While exploring one day, he comes across an island decorating in strange ice formations, and is attacked by dragon-catcher Eret (Game of Thrones' Kit Harington).

Eret tells them about the warlord Drago (Djimon Honsou), who is amassing a dragon army after learning how to bend the creatures to his will using violence and intimidation. Hiccup and Astrid escape and ride back to Berk to warn the others, and learn that Stoick knows Drago and that he is a madman not be reasoned with. Hiccup, however, feels different and rides off on Toothless to treat with Drago but instead comes upon another hidden island, where dragons live in harmony under the influence of a colossal Alpha dragon known as a bewilderbeast. Also living on the island is environmentalist Valka (Cate Blanchett), Hiccup's long-lost mother.

Cleverly written without heavy lessons on morality and impeccably voiced by a star cast, How To Train Your Dragon 2 stresses the importance of finding your own place in the world. The film could easily have been some kind of eco-crusade, but instead questions whether the human race reserves the right to bend it nature to our will, or if we are a mere significance who have a duty to preserve it, or even if nature is a tool which we can use to serve the greater good. This is startlingly darker than it's predecessor - humans and dragons die - and even questions whether war can be just. Drago is a psychopathic tyrant - can these men be bargained with, or should they simply be wiped out? Thrilling, emotional and extremely thoughtful, this beautiful-looking sequel is the possibly the biggest surprise of the year.


Directed by: Dean DeBlois
Voices: Jay Baruchel, Cate Blanchett, Gerard Butler, Craig Ferguson, America Ferrera, Kit Harington, Djimon Hounsou, Jonah Hill, Kristen Wiig
Country: USA

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie

Review #704: 'The Wolf of Wall Street' (2013)

Boasting the fifth collaboration between lauded director Martin Scorsese and can-do-no-wrong A-lister Leonardo DiCaprio, The Wolf of Wall Street signals the moment the two finally took the step over the brink. Their previous films together - Gangs of New York (2002), The Aviator (2004), The Departed (2006) and Shutter Island (2010) - were all solid, if hardly groundbreaking works. With The Wolf of Wall Street, Scorsese seems to have let go of his reservations and embraced the daring, X-rated innovations of his 70's and early 80's work, and DiCaprio deserves to look smug after giving his finest performance to date. From the opening shot of DiCaprio snorting cocaine from between a prostitute's open legs, this is 3 hours of utter depravity. And it's hilarious.

Shortly after being taught the ways of excess and cocaine by his Wall Street boss Mark Hanna (Matthew McConaughey), young stockbroker Jordan Belfort (DiCaprio) finds himself out of work following Black Monday. When he takes a boiler room job at a stockbroker's dealing in penny stocks, he learns that commission for these stocks are 50%. Soon enough he is making money hand over fist, setting up his own company, Stratton Oakmont, along with his dentally-challenged follower Donnie Azoff (Jonah Hill). He recruits some of Donnie's marijuana-dealing friends and teaches them a script designed to sell, but ultimately the operation is a pump and dump scam. He is labelled The Wolf of Wall Street in a negative magazine article, yet this propels him to cult fame, and soon has flocks of eager young Gordon Gekko's begging for a piece of the pie.

At one minute shy of 3 hours, the film could certainly do with a trim. Yet Scorsese and DiCaprio's obvious fascination with this anti-hero means that we are treated to experiencing every juvenile and ridiculous second of Belfort's rise to Wall Street superstardom. We get flights with on-board orgies and drug taking, Jonah Hill masturbating in the middle of a crowded party at the sight of Belfort's future wife Naomi (the stunning Margot Robbie), dwarf-tossing, and Belfort taking helicopter lessons whilst drugged off his face. This is certainly dangerous territory - the film could easily slip into a celebration of frat-house antics, which is kind of does, but Scorsese keep the insanity levels at such a height that it's hard not to just laugh and shake your head.

A lot of it is down to the performances of DiCaprio and Hill, the latter of whom is proving to be a damn fine actor beneath that Jew-fro and obnoxious mannerisms. The film's highlight focuses on a botched scheme to smuggle $2 million dollars via Brad (Jon Bernthal) to reptilian French banker Jean (Jean Dujardin). Having learned that FBI agent Denham (Kyle Chandler) has his phones tapped, Belfort must get home to warn Donnie to get off the phone. The only problem is, they've taken a large quantity of Qualuudes. Thinking that years of indulgence have caused a tolerance to build up, the expired best before date have simply lead to a delayed reaction. Belfort suffers from what he describes as 'the cerebral palsy stage', flailing around on the floor without control of his limbs or his speech. His long journey home is the most laugh-out-loud example of drug-fuelled ineptitude since the ether scene in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998).

Of course, the film's morals are questionable, and Scorsese has suffered the same narrow-minded criticism he did from his 'glamorisation' of the mob in Goodfellas (1990). Yet I like to think that Scorsese trusts and respects his audience enough to allow them to think for themselves, to get a laugh from the on-screen antics whilst understanding that this is not the behaviour of a sane or ethical individual. Refreshingly, the movie stays away from any moral preaching or underlying messages, and simply tells a story because it's entertaining. Although it doesn't quite justify it's 3 hour running time, this is the most fun I've had watching a comedy for a long time, and proves that there's plenty of life in Scorsese yet.


Directed by: Martin Scorsese
Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, Margot Robbie, Kyle Chandler, Rob Reiner, Jon Bernthal, Matthew McConaughey, Jean Dujardin, Joanna Lumley
Country: USA

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie

Review #659: 'This Is the End' (2013)

We all know the comedy formula by now - obnoxious man-child goes about his business until a life-changing event (i.e. a girl) teaches him the way of the world so that we gradually learn that he's really quite sweet after all. It's a cliché fully embraced by silver screen comedy megastars like Ben Stiller, Will Ferrell and Jack Black. Audiences, clearly comfortable with predictability, flock to see their hugely profitable films, because, as bad as their movies tend to be, they are still loveable actors. Judd Apatow and his entourage of actors - although they have made their fair share of bad movies too - seem unsatisfied with simply offering the same thing over and over again. First-time directors Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen here give us a strange and dangerously self-indulgent end-of-the-world comedy with some of Hollywood's most famous offering themselves up for lampooning, resulting in a Marmite movie that I believe is the funniest of the year so far.

L.A.-loathing Jay Baruchel arrives at the airport to be greeted by his lifelong buddy Seth Rogen. The two go home and smoke some weed, and eventually head over to James Franco's new Hollywood mansion for an A-list party. Baruchel doesn't want to go because Jonah Hill will be there, and Jonah is apparently an arsehole. While Rogen mixes with his new Hollywood buddies, Baruchel mopes on his own and watches Craig Robinson sing 'take yo' panties off!' with Rihanna. But as Baruchel and Rogen go to the store for some munchies, beams of light suddenly start sucking people up into heaven, and the ground below them starts to open. It seems the Rapture has passed them by and the apocalypse is upon them. Holed up in Franco's mansion as demonic monsters prowl outside, they must survive starvation, Emma Watson wielding an axe, an exorcism, and most of all, an uninvited Danny McBride.

With disaster movies opening every other week these days, the vision of the apocalypse brought by Goldberg and Rogen is actually rather well done. A coked-up Michael Cera, who is previously seen receiving some oral assistance in a bathroom, is given a particularly gruesome death, while the likes of Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Jason Segel and Paul Rudd are sucked into wormholes in the ground. It would seem obvious to most normal people as to what these idiots need to do to escape their predicament, but they are far too self-absorbed to realise. It's funny how aware these actors are of their public perception, and they fully embrace it. So Rogen is ribbed for playing the same guy in every movie and is practically always seen with a joint in his mouth; Franco is the robe-wearing, art-collecting 'pretentious nerd' (as McBride labels him); Hill is subtly creepy; Robinson is just an extremely nice guy; and McBride is psychotic and selfish. Baruchel, it seems, is the only 'normal' one, completely untainted by Hollywood.

But the point here is not that Hollywood is evil or that Hollywood corrupts the soul. I don't really know what it's about, but at it's centre there is the relatable story of lifelong friends that have grown apart, but are still desperately clinging onto that special bond they share. And it is this that makes the film so engrossing. The humour is as bad taste as you would expect (at one point, Franco and McBride threaten each other with ejaculation), but it's the emotional core that dilutes all the cock jokes and gives the movie such much-needed humanity. It won't be for everybody, and some of the general strangeness will go over a lot of audience's heads. Goldberg and Rogen have clearly seen far too many movies and therefore throw everything but the kitchen sink at the film, but I found this a completely unexpected joy, and an original one at that. Although it gets a bit too ridiculous at the climax, the end note will have a big part of the audience screaming with pleasure with a cameo or five by some unexpected guests.


Directed by: Evan Goldberg, Seth Rogen
Starring: Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel, James Franco, Jonah Hill, Craig Robinson, Danny McBride, Emma Watson, Michael Cera
Country: USA

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie

Review #587: 'How to Train Your Dragon' (2010)

In the Viking village of Berk, Hiccup (Jay Baruchel), the young, idiotic son of the village chieftain Stoick (Gerard Butler), longs to follow in his father Stoick's (Gerard Butler) footsteps and become a famous dragon warrior. When their village is ambushed by dragons, Hiccup shoots down the most notorious dragon of all, known as Night Wing, who's penetrating scream is all that can be heard before a flash of light and the inevitable destruction. Of course, nobody believes him, and when he finds the wounded dragon, Hiccup realises he cannot bring himself to kill it. He instead invents a contraption that will help it's damaged wing, and after earning it's trust by bringing it food, begins to ride it. But while on a flight trying to impress his potential girlfriend Astrid (America Ferrera), the Night Wing is swept into the dragon nest, where an even bigger threat to the village is laying dormant.

For a Dreamworks animated effort, How To Train Your Dragon holds up refreshingly well when compared to the likes of Pixar, and to the rest of Dreamworks' rather shoddy past output. What works best is directors' Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois desire to keep things more grown up. This is a film more for the Lord of the Rings audience than those who somehow enjoyed the Shrek sequels and Madagascar (2005), with its execution rooted in fantasy and folklore. There are many different types of dragons in the film, each with a different 'power' and level of danger it brings with it, keeping the whole dragon mythology refreshing amidst a flurry of post-Rings fantasy efforts involving the giant fire-breathers. The opening battle scene is an explosion of action and comedy, an exciting way to discover the world these characters inhabit and witness Hiccup's ineptitude compared to his father's unrivalled prowess.

This being Dreamworks, it then decides to pander to the much younger audience, by introducing the (admittedly cute) Night Wing, whom Hiccup renames Toothless, and the younger inhabitants of the village (voiced by the likes of Jonah Hill and Christopher Mintz-Plasse). It was at this point where I asked myself why the elder villagers all have Scottish accents, while the younger ones sound pre-pubescent Americans in a mall. Obviously, it's a way of helping the younger (American) audience to relate to these characters, but to me it's just damn lazy and often quite annoying given Baruchel's weakling protagonist who sounds like only one ball has dropped. And with this comes the inevitable and familiar messages of acceptance and friendship. But ultimately, How to Train Your Dragon is a highly entertaining film, full of clever ideas, lovely, fluid aerial animation, and an exciting final battle with the giant dragon Red Death.


Directed by: Dean DeBlois, Chris Sanders
Voices: Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, Craig Ferguson, America Ferrera, Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plasse
Country: USA

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie

Review #418: '21 Jump Street' (2012)

Did anyone really want a modern update of 21 Jump Street, a cancelled TV show that ran between 1987 and 1991, a show that is only really remembered for being Johnny Depp's big break? The answer is, tragically, yes, it's the same people that watch tripe such as the recent remakes of Hawaii Five-O and Charlie's Angels, lapping up its generic story lines and unchallenging episodic structure. Thankfully, we're not going to have to watch two failed movie actors accepting a career in television (in the case of Hawaii 5-O), as 21 Jump Street has been given a full-blown movie, and rather than following the same tone and style as its predecessor, Jonah Hill and Michael Bacall have written as an absurd action-comedy, taking a giant gamble and casting heart-throb Channing Tatum, an actor that has looked more comfortable in recent years in action films and romantic comedies.

Schmidt (Hill) and Jenko (Tatum) are two recent police graduates who became best friends in helping each through their own difficulties during the police examinations. In high school, just seven years earlier, Schmidt was a nerd who dressed as Eminem ("not-so-Slim Shady"), and Jenko was the long-haired popular jock. After a failed drug bust, the two are assigned to a recently re-instated program that was cancelled in the 80's (get it?), and are shipped off to 21 Jump Street to play undercover at a local high school that has seen an influx of a new hallucinogenic drug. To their surprise, they find that the politics of high school have changed, and now the nerds rule, and the jocks are the ones that don't fit in (Jenko blames recent TV shows, "fuck you, Glee!"). With Schmidt seeing his new popularity as a way to re-live his high school days the way he would have wanted, his friendship with Jenko suffers, as does their drug operation.

Given the recent comedy disappointments that have starred the likes of Jonah Hill and his posse, I wasn't expecting much more than a few titters from 21 Jump Street. To my surprise, the film is actually hilarious, thanks to a witty, smut-filled script, some fast-paced action scenes, and real chemistry between the two leads. It also plays out like a love-letter to the 1980's, where mismatched-buddy action comedies seemed to be out every other week, and is wise enough to be well aware of this, embracing the cliches of the genre (during a high speed chase, there is a nice running joke about vehicles not exploding as they would usually in movies, and Ice Cube plays the obligatory angry black captain - "I'm black, and occasionally I get angry!").

Hill, love him or hate him (I tend to be in the former category) gives the performance you would expect - nervous, foul-mouthed, and wasting no opportunity to make a clever pop culture reference - and it's interesting how he makes the audience almost despise the nerd when we are so used to them being the sympathetic character. Tatum is the film's trump card, proving a brilliant comedy actor, and does not simply play the straight man to Hill's funny man. Jenko is big, handsome and stupid (in the opening calamitous drug bust he forgets the Miranda rights -"you have the right to... suck my dick, motherfucker!), yet he has a big heart, bonding with some science nerds to both infiltrate a dealer and to learn about science.

The jokes are about as crude and as vulgar as I've heard for a while. There are as many cock jokes than there are sight gags, often blending the two together- a funny scene sees Jenko childishly doing ridiculous sex positions with a toy giraffe on Schmidt as he talks to his potential girlfriend on the phone. But if you can stomach the smut and would find the lead characters tripping their balls off on drugs funny, then there's plenty of fun to be had here, as at its core there is a lot of heart. Fans of the original show are in for a treat too, as there is an inspired revelation at the end, as well as homages and references to the series and the era in general ("I look like Fred Savage in the Wonder Years, only naked!"). A film that proves that taking an old idea and re-doing it can work, as long as your wise enough to make it seem fresh.


Directed by: Phil Lord, Christopher Miller
Starring: Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum, Brie Larson, Dave Franco, Rob Riggle, Ice Cube
Country: USA

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie

Review #377: 'Moneyball' (2011)

Being a football fan (that's 'soccer' to any Americans reading), it has been an increasingly frustrating past decade or so seeing the sport turn into a greedy, money-orientated business. The gap between the rich super-clubs, and the smaller teams that have been forced into becoming 'feeder clubs', is becoming larger and larger with every progressing season. The takeover of Manchester City a few seasons ago by Arab oil tycoon and politician Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nayhan saw the club spend over £150 million in one transfer window, and now sit second in the league as a result, with a host of superstar playboys littering their team-sheet. This transformation from sport of the working classes to a capitalist business is the focus of Moneyball, but the sport is baseball, America's equivalent to football.

It tells the true story of failed baseball player Billy Beane (Brad Pitt), who is now General Manager of Oakland Athletics, a team who are struggling to keep up with the pace of the New York Mets, a rich club who have just nabbed three of Oakland's key players. Disillusioned with the financial distance between the clubs, he approaches Peter Brand (Jonah Hill), a Yale-graduated economics analyst who seems to have made a breakthrough studying statistics rather than player valuation. Brand suggests three out-of-favour has-beens and rejects to replace one of the superstars they lost, to which Beane obliges. Oakland become the laughing stock of the sport, until they go on a winning run which will soon break all baseball records.

Like I said, I am a football fan, and I love to watch the game. But my love of the game is hampered by feelings of self-loathing as I watch these over-paid primadonnas whine and dive their way around the pitch, while earning more in a week than I will in twenty years for kicking a piece of leather around a pitch for 90 minutes. Billy Beans shares this view. He says 'it's impossible not to be romantic about baseball', but he has watched the sport he loves become merely dollar signs in the eyes of suit-wearing tycoons who treat it as something to play with in their spare time. Beane does not want to simply win a trophy, a ring, or a record, he wants to change the way the game is run.

Pitt became involved in the production way back in 2007, and became almost a labour-of-love for the actor. He also produces as well as giving an impressive performance. It's alarming how he has transformed himself from a mere pretty boy of the 1990's, into a passionate actor and producer, starring in excellent films such as Babel (2006), The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007) and Inglourious Basterds (2009). He received an Oscar nomination for this film, as it's fully deserved, portraying Beane as a mixture of determination, eagerness and concern, as well short-tempered rage. Jonah Hill is also excellent, following his creepy performance in Cyrus (2010) as the dutiful, super-intelligent Brand (he also received an Oscar nomination).

Moneyball is a welcome passion project that goes as far as translating the love of a sport that escapes us Brits. Although there is very little focus on the playing of the sport itself, it makes it clear why the sport is loved so much and is seen in such a romantic light. It does for baseball what the underrated Friday Night Lights (2004) does for American football. The script by superscribes Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin is suitably fast-paced and complex, giving the film a weight and a darkness that made The Social Network (2010) so good (in Sorkin's case). Informative, insightful, and occasionally gripping, UK audiences should not shy away from this film due to the sport, and instead embrace a film that tackles larger issues of greed and class division.


Directed by: Bennett Miller
Starring: Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Robin Wright
Country: USA

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie

Review #240: 'Cyrus' (2010)

John (John C. Reilly) is a desperately lonely man who still clings to his ex-wife Jamie (Catherine Keener), who has just announced she is to re-marry. She forces him to come to a party in order to meet women, and his drunken advances cause only embarrassment. While urinating in the garden, he meets the beautiful Molly (Marisa Tomei) who overheard one of his honest and open ramblings, and the two hit it off. Noticing she repeatedly sneaks off during the night, John follows Molly back to her place one night and comes across her strange son Cyrus (Jonah Hill). He seems pleasant in a strange way at first, but soon it becomes apparent that there's more to Cyrus than meets the eye, and he seems intent on breaking the new couple up.

While the trailers and promotional campaign billed this as a quirky comedy in the vein of Judd Apatow, the film came as a pleasantly different surprise. While it would be easy to mistake this for an Apatow film, it plays more as an indie drama, with some very funny moments. Reilly is one of the finest character actors of his generation, so we know what to expect from him. However, it is Jonah Hill that emerges from this film the best, as he puts in a quite amazing performance - creepy and horrible, tragic and dysfunctional, and conniving and evil. He pulls off a multi-dimensional character with a spectacular ease, which is something I would not expect from the guy who pretends to masturbate into a jar and drink it in the quite frankly brilliant Superbad (2007).

I just hope the advertising campaign doesn't bring in the wrong audience, as this is a film that deserves to be seen. Yes, it is very funny in the laugh-out-loud sense. But it is also tender, moving, highly engaging, and often profoundly moving. I've rarely been so engaged throughout every second of a film's running time. The film plot means it is always in danger of becoming soapy or melodramatic, but instead the film's characters are real, and they avoid the film going in the direction that you would expect it to. If there is a negative, it would be the annoying crash-zoom camera work which seems to be there for no other reason than to cry "this is an indie film!". But if you can see past this minor flaw, this is a beautifully rendered comedy drama.


Directed by: Jay Duplass, Mark Duplass
Starring: John C. Reilly, Marisa Tomei, Jonah Hill, Catherine Keener
Country: USA

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie

Review #110: 'Get Him to the Greek' (2010)

The comedy films of writer/producer/director Judd Apatow have somewhat dominated the last eight years or so. As well as being commercial hits, they have been lauded by critics for their sweet approach to comedy, blended with gross-out aspects and genuinely good scriptwriting. Apart from his best works - The 40-Year Old Virgin (2005), Superbad (2007), Knocked Up (2007) - his films can often be lazy, relying on quirky randomness to get through. The overrated Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004), which has somehow become a massive cult hit, was the biggest example of this, and although I could watch Will Ferrell all day, the film just felt like it was desperately trying to get through to the other side. Get Him To The Greek is another example of this.

Music producer Aaron Green (Jonah Hill) convinces his somewhat angry boss (Sean Combs) that an anniversary concert for failing rock star Aldous Snow (Russell Brand) is the way forward. Convinced, Green is sent to London to collect Snow and take him on a few promotional spots before arriving back in America for his concert. Snow would rather have endless parties, take lots of drugs, and sleep with lots of women - which is okay with Green, only he has an angry boss on his ass and a girlfriend (played by Mad Men's Elisabeth Moss) who he's not sure has broken up with him or not.

This is really a film of two halves. The first being genuinely funny - with Brand breathing likeability into his somewhat loathsome character, and the exchanges between Hill and Diddy being a particular highlight. This is coming from a person that hates Russell Brand. I mean I really, really hate him. But the charm that everyone else seems to see only becomes apparent to me when on the screen. Here he reprises his role from Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008), where I was surprised with his comic timing. When the second half comes around, I began hating him again.

The film simply runs out of ideas, throwing in a troubled father-son relationship between Brand and his Las Vegas-based father Jonathan Snow (Colm Meaney) that is of no interest. It also throws up one of the unfunniest scenes in the film, with Hill being smashed on a 'jeffrey' (a mix up of a variety of drugs smoked like a joint) and stroking a furry wall while Brand and Meaney fight. It resorts to scenes like this because it has no more jokes to tell, and combined with Aldous Snow's increasingly crap and unfunny array of songs, it all feels like it just wants to end.

Sadly, a more interesting sub-plot that reveals Snow's serious drug habit crops up then seemingly fades out without being properly explored. It could have added another dimension to Snow's character, and stopped him becoming a whiny and annoying protagonist. That said, the first half is funny enough to make it worth a watch, and Sean Combs near enough steals the entire film.


Directed by: Nicholas Stoller
Starring: Jonah Hill, Russell Brand, Rose Byrne, Sean Combs, Colm Meaney, Elisabeth Moss
Country: USA

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie