“Have fun, don’t go in the water if you know what’s good for you and try not to get shit on the sheets”
Review by Lewis Goodall
If you grew up in the UK then you grew up with UK comedy, lucky you. If you grew up with 90’s comedy then you’re even luckier. If you grew up with watching Bottom then you’re the luckiest of them all. If you haven’t seen Bottom then I pity you because you haven’t truly experienced comedy in its purest, dumbest form. If you have and you haven’t seen Guest House Paradiso, then you’re in luck my friend because you have an new hour and a half episode waiting for you.
Guest House Paradiso, Directed by Adrian Edmondson, teleports you to the cheapest hotel in Britain, run by Eddie Ndingombaba (Adrian Edmondson) and Richard Twat (Rik Mayall). If you’re not sold on this movie so far then you’re lost to me. The two attempt to run the hotel but it are obstructed when guests turn up.
If you haven’t dabbled in Bottom then I seriously suggest it (the show, not pegging). The 90’s sitcom has roughly the same premise of two delinquents living on the breadline and finding the most ridiculous scenarios to get them through the day. Its honestly my favourite comedy show ever written and having a new, hour and a half episode with Guest House Paradiso, you bet your arse I went balls deep (again, not pegging).
What makes the duo great of Eddie and Richard is mainly the slapstick comedy dynamic they have. Its always over the top, cartoon violence and these two have it down, they’re the masters of it. Throwing each other through windows, slamming each others heads into fridges, you name it. Its never not funny when it comes to physical humour and these two are the pioneers, they’re the Lewis and Clark of discovering new ways to cripple eachother in the most hilarious way. They’re real life looney tunes which is probably why I love it so much.
If you know the dynamic of Rik Mayall and Adrian Edmondson, you know that they focus more on the comedy rather than the story. The story itself is just so bizarre and won’t change your perception on reality but that’s not what its about, its just all about the constant flurry of jokes being shot right at you, and that’s perfectly fine by me.
Overall this is not a perfect film, but it is a perfect Bottom film. It has everything you could want from these two and a bit more. You haven’t really lived until you’ve seen Rik Mayall in red, spiky latex lingerie.
“Do you ever have nightmares after eating cheese? You might’ve eaten a ghost”
Review by Lewis Goodall
With all these films about ghosts now, how can we deny that they exist, they’re everywhere. A ghost could be watching you right this second and you wouldn’t know, they watch you when you sleep, they haunt your house, they haunt every thing in your house. They haunt your cheese, you’ve eaten ghost cheese and you don’t even know it, open your eyes!!
Extra Ordinary, directed by Mike Ahern and Enda Loughman, follows Rose (Maeve Higgins), a ditsy driving instructor who also has the gift to chitter chatter with the dead!! She uses her talent to help save Martin’s (Barry Ward) daughter from a washed up rock star who’s using a satanic ritual to reignite his fame.
“Extra Ordinary” from Kino Lorber films
I think the UK has a certain charm to their small budget comedy films, especially when they’re about ghosts. This is just one of those perfect quirky, easy watching films when you’re looking to stick something on for a quick laugh, and lemme tell ya, this certain has them. There were a few moments that made me rewind it so I can enjoy the joke again. Even with a super simplistic storyline, this films manages to keep your attention with the gags.
Maeve and Barry both play an awkward duo perfectly. They’re Equally as strange so they bounced off each other well. This matched with some great parody writing made for an all round enjoyable experience. It didn’t break any barriers in terms of blowing my scalp off with some amazing cinematic scenes but like I said earlier, it’s a perfect easy watch.
Overall this film felt very much like a wannabe Edgar Wright film but that’s in no way a diss. The editing was great and added to the jokes which was great to see finally considering Hollywood don’t know how to use the camera to enhance a joke, take note from the Irish.
The Jerk, starring Steve Martin as the lovable goof Navin R Johnson, is adopted by a Black family but doesn’t feel like he fits in. Having this overwhelming feeling of not being complete, he sets off on an adventure to discover a part of him that is missing.
Everyone loves well crafted comedy, a serious story but with stupid comedy laced within. But every now and then you have to sit down to a film with a stupid story line with stupid comedy. It’s good for the soul, it’s as important as one of your five a day doctors say. Steve Martin delivers a fantastically goofy comedy with The Jerk. The story itself seems pretty straight forward from the way I described it but there are so many bits in this film that are just so crazy that sometimes you wonder what the hell is going on. From a random assassin chasing Navin to him guessing peoples weight at the circus, this adventure takes you from one wacky sequence to another, it’s just so random you can’t help but laugh.
I’ve seen a lot of people saying that this is the original stupid comedy and you can certainly tell that it paved the way from future classics like Dumb and Dumber. I think it’s a film that would be funnier the second time round because I’ve been watching scenes back again and laughing more the second time round. Watching Steve try and dance along to music with no rhythm is a sight that plays over and over again in my head, if it seems like I’m miles away and not listening to what you’re saying, just know I’ve probably got that little Steve Martin dancing away in my head.
This film very clearly takes Inspiration from classic black and whites comedy films. As a huge lover of old school comedies, I could spot the similarities instantly. Having a random singing scene between the love interests or a sped up chase scene is very old school which I very much enjoyed. It was a great blend between old and new comedy.
Overall this is a comedy, yes it certainly is and a great one at that. It’s one of those Sunday afternoon films to watch and have a good belly laugh. Its very wholesome actually, that’s what I’d say about this film, it’s a light, easy watch, like Philadelphia cream cheese for the eyes.
“He doesn’t have a gay head, he has a normal head”
Review by Lily Taylor
If you’ve seen ‘In Bruges’ then you’ll definitely be on board with this, ‘Seven Psychopaths’ is packed with Martin McDonagh’s signature black comedy and a star studded cast.
The film follows Marty (Colin Farrell, of course)a writer struggling to put pen to paper for his latest movie entitled ‘Seven Psychopaths’. Marty’s best friend Billy (Sam Rockwell) and his business partner Hans (Christopher Walken) make an honest living stealing dogs and returning them for the reward money. The pair run into trouble when Billy dog naps Bonnie, crime boss Charlie Costello’s (Woody Harrelson) beloved shih tzu and naturally Marty gets sucked into the drama. As they struggle to evade Costello, Marty works on characters for his screenplay based on real life psychopaths that come to him after Billy places an ad in the local news ‘calling all psychopaths’.
As you can imagine, I’m sold on the film within the first ten minutes having seen a chunky Bassett hound and an adorable shih tzu; as usual with a film directed by McDonagh that’s not the only reason to watch. The cast all put in stellar performances, Sam Rockwell plays an endearing psychopath and loyal best friend to Marty. Marty has an Irish accent and a drinking problem, a performance we all know Colin Farrell has down. Christopher Walken uses his own voice which is all that’s really required and Woody Harrelson looks like he’s permanently sucking a boiled sweet; not essential to the role, just an observation.
As with ‘In Bruges’ and ‘Three Billboards…’ the plot is woven together fantastically so that what seems like several stories perfectly ties together at the end. The humour is dark and at times farcical but it fits brilliantly with the zany characters like Billy and Charlie. My favourite backstory belongs to Hans and I won’t spoil it for you entirely but it all hinges on his stylish cravat. Its an easy watching, dark crime comedy written and directed by Martin McDonagh, enough said. I had a couple of small qualms with the movie and it didn’t quite have that star quality required for a perfect ten but it’s absolutely worth a watch.
I would give ‘Seven Psychopaths’ 8 Half Eaten Strawberries out of 10.
Before anything else I have to tell you how you need to watch this film to get the best viewing experience. You have to go into this film not expecting anything as it paints itself as a horror but its not even close, it’s more of a comedy thriller. If you go into this film thinking it’s just a goofy/violent game of cat and mouse then you’ll much prefer this film rather than thinking its an off the wall, nut crunching blockbuster. It’s a fun one.
We are greeted with 2 children, running for their lives as you hear screaming in the background. The setting it a big, fancy pants looking house, the sort of house the national trust would preserve. As they run and hide, one of the boys meets face to face with a panicked man who asks for their help, just as this happens they are hit with a couple of crossbow bolts to the chest and dragged away. Cut to the future and we meet Grace (Samara Weaving (not margot Robbie as I kept thinking)), the bride to be to Alex (Mark O’Brien (also not Margot Robbie but this ones more obvious)). Alex is part of the Le Domas dominion, a family that made their riches through board games. On the night of their wedding at midnight, Grace must play a game with the family, dictated by a box that has been past down generations. The box pulls the card ‘Hide and Seek’ which kicks off a game of deadly cat and mouse where the family must hunt her down before dawn. 0 – 100 pretty quick huh?
This film is directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin & Tyler Gillett who I will certainly be watching for the future as they certainly know how to make a fun film. Like I mentioned before, not taking this film seriously is the way to go as there are quite a few goofy moments in the film which are genuinely laugh out loud moments, but the tone can switch in an instance, edge of your seat panic to a rib tickler within minutes. The comedy within the violence adds a nice juxtaposition throughout, sort of reminiscent of ‘Shaun of the Dead’ with the sort of comedy we have. Also finally, a recent film that knows how to have a comic relief, leave it to just one character to do that job, if every character is a comic relief then it just doesn’t blend but in ‘Ready or Not’ we have one character that it Alex’s brother in law and all these moments were great to split the tension.
As for the rest of the family, they are all there during the hunt, some more adamant in killing the bride than the others using an arsenal left for them by their great grandfather, Including rifles, crossbows and axes. There’s no time really to gauge a connection to any of the characters apart from Grace but again as I mentioned, it’s not the sort of film where you need to get invested in all their backstories to know who they are, all you need to know is that they’re ready to kill. All their acting fits the job but the standout during the film is Samara as Grace and that’s purely down to her scream, my god she has a good scream, its sounds pained and really hit home with the pain and panic she was feeling, I know it’s a weird detail to pick up on but it stuck with me.
As shes screaming I’m sure you’re already assuming that at some point she gets hurt and you’d be correct, she’s not the only one though. I’m not going to spoiler who gets hurt with what but if you’re looking for your blood fix then this is certainly in that bracket. Again, comparing it to ‘Shaun of the Dead’, I would rate the violence on that sort of level, I would say in this though it’s slightly more over the top, particularly as it reaches the final scenes. Some of the violence packs the most laughs so I’m not going to spoil what happens but the blood goes both ways in terms of serious incidents and hilarious incidents. There was one man in front of me who was getting a real hoot out of the violence.
Overall this isn’t a masterpiece of comedy, it certainly has its flaws, particularly one Incredibly obvious mistake where the editor should’ve been horse whipped because I don’t know how they didn’t pick it up. Other than that this film is just a good laugh, if you’re looking for an easy film that need to satisfy your gore hole then I would recommend this. It’s a good insight to seeing how messed up the rich are and how devoted they are to board games.
If there was ever a film that would give out an STD then this film would be it. Right, onto the description.
Hustlers is based on a viral article written for the New York Magazine where a group of strippers conned Wall Street businessmen out of thousands of dollars by manipulating and drugging them. The film follows Destiny (Constance Wu), a new fish in the big pond of stripping. She starts at a new club where she is tutored by Ramoma (Jennifer Lopez) to become a master of the stripper pole. As the two work their way up to becoming the top mest to look at, a financial crash means that they are forced into a new path of hustling money from wall street prey in order to support their growing families.
I’m putting this film up against what I will call ‘The Vice Effect’. ‘Vice’ is an incredible film based on what Is a pretty dull story which is brought to life through incredible directing and editing (Lily reviewed ‘Vice’ here so I recommend giving that a read). The reason I mention this is because of course ‘Hustlers’ is also based on a true story. Vice took a boring story and made it fun, hustlers took an interesting story and made it dull. Where Vice used editing to make the story so naturally cool, hustlers tried so hard to replicate this same method of storytelling but it just came off incredibly weak and uninteresting.
The original story actually has some potential but the Hollywood storytelling nonsense sprinkled all over it was just sickening. Its incredibly cliche with its storyline and writing where I was predicting everything that is going to happen and it only went and did exactly what was I though was going to happen. They made it a typical underdog story who rises to the top, loses everything and then comes back on top again but included a buffet of poorly written characters, garnished in trashy acting and with a side order of unoriginality.
The characters themselves are just unlikeable, not at one point did I find myself onboard with what the characters were going through and I didnt feel emotionally attached to them at all. So as mentioned we follow Destiny, an orphan who takes care of her aging grandmother who is in debt. Destiny takes the job of a stripper and makes friends with all the other eye candy there. Some of these Include j-lo as mentioned, who is Destinys stipper version of Mr Miyagi. We have some other who I actually dont remember because they were all so dull and uninteresting that I dont want to waste my energy talking about them. I do have to mention Lizzo and Cardi B as they are plastered all over the posters. Lizzo is in the film for less than a minute, not even exaggerating, and Cardi B is there being her trashy self, I honestly dont think she was acting, I believe that they just had a camera pointed at her and let her be herself because it was all just trashy and uncomfortable. I know this film is based on strippers but they somehow managed to make the stripping scenes gross, not at one point did my blood cells trip take a vacation to boner town. I’m not saying that that is what I’m basing this film on, whether it excited me or not but my point is is that this film is supposed to be glamourising these women but it was just uncomfortable, I cant imagine anyone going ‘CORE YEAH BABY GIMME MORE OF THAT POLE WORK YEEEEEAH’ because all of the glamorous scenes came off as gross . I’m getting sidetracked but the characters are just unlikeable so it made the whole experience pointless because there was no rooting along with anyone to strive for them to achieve because what they are doing was just plain wrong which I’ll get into in a minute because its gonna get political. So I’ll talk about the editing first.
So as I mentioned literally 1 second ago, I’ll talk about the editing. Now the editing in this film was the only semi redeeming aspect of this film. There were moments of some pretty slick transitions which I was a fan of but other than those moments, the film came off as the nerdy kid who would wear what all the cool kids wears and then tries to fit in. It took a lot of inspiration from other films to attempted to implant a joke with quick cuts or attempt to make these women look like badasses when it just comes across as try-hard.
Now the political stuff that i have a problem with in terms of this film. So the whole story In general, the original story is pretty gritty with women drugging men a stealing their money. which is what brings me onto the film that attempts to glamourise this by making the characters seem as though they are independent women who are badass by drugging people. It felt uncomfortable that what they were doing was suppose to make you sympathise with what they did. A big problem I have with hollywood is the way it is towards women in the business. It confuses me that they talk so much about objectifying women but then go and make films like this which makes women objectifying themselves. This film was directed by a women which confuses me because at this point im trying to decide whether or not they are praising these women for being independent and drugging men, but then they get j-lo wearing an outfit where her anus was pretty much on show and having her dance for 5 minutes. I guess what I’m trying to get at with this is that I dont understand what they were going for with this film, I dont understand who the audience is suppose to be, are you justifying women drugging men? Do you want me to care about these characters who are unlikeable? The whole experience confused me and just adds to it feeling uncomfortable the whole way through.
Overall I feel as though you know where I’m going with this. This whole film is just the woman on the street corner in a leopard print skirt with withdrawal shakes. It the trashiest film I have every seen, not just in terms of the subject matter but in every aspect. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go and pick myself up a self chlamydia test.
1959 was a stunning year for classic cinema, it brought us the thrilling, cat and mouse flick ‘North By Northwest’ by Alfred Hitchcock. We got chariot racing epic ‘Ben-Hur’. We also was graced with the utterly hilarious and perfect, ‘Some Like It Hot’ ( a random thought that just came into my head, I’m sure there’s got to be a porn parody of that film called ‘Some Like It Thot’). With these films and a few others, Roger Corman looked at this and thought “woah woah woah… let’s reign this in a bit huh?” And decided to make ‘The Wasp Woman’
A scientist, who works for a cosmetic company, has finally cracked the formula for an exciting new product that shoots youth back into the lives of people who use it. Extracting royal jelly from wasps, the scientist learns by testing on animals that this jelly has the ability to halt the ageing process and then reverse it so the user becomes younger. The CEO of the company, Susan ( played by Janice Starlin), who is the face of the company with pictures of her on the products, decides to change the face to younger, Sprite young frilly. As profits drop since the move to younger face, Susan takes matter into her own hands and works along side the scientist with his new discovery. I’ll stop the description there, I’m sure at the point you can put two and two together with what happens in the rest of the story considering the title of the film.
I would definitely consider this film more of a C movie, it’s too waspy to be a B movie. Everything about this film screams that it had a budget of less than the cost it takes to make a kinder egg toy. I would say that I understand why it’s not as well made as films now days because its 1959 and its understandable that it probably hasn’t aged well but then I remember the 3 films I mentioned In the first paragraph and realised that no, you can make good films. The amount of times where I have up on the dialogue due to the sound quality being so poor that I only just understood what was happening, although most of the film I was watching with a pooch head tilt because I had no idea what was happening. Luckily the film has a very generic, horror flick story line to it that it was easy to follow, even when they were talking about wasp royal jelly and the sound quality was the same as if you were playing sound out of a Nokia sitting at the bottom of a Pringles can.
Taking technical quality out of the equation, let’s say it is due to the age of the film, the film is still pretty poor for being able to create an engaging story. With lackluster acting and novelty Halloween mask special effects, a lot of the experience was very dull and didn’t keep my attention, I found myself drifting away and forcing myself back into watching it. I think I got distracted most of the time because I felt as though I had already watched the film purely from knowing that the title of the film is ‘The Wasp Woman’. Fairly certain that she was going to turn into a wasp from that point. The metamorphosis into the wasp is nothing special either. From the front cover that I used for the main image, I was hoping for a flying wasp woman attacking the city. Unfortunately we get a real milky tea version where the CEO just gains a vaguely wasp looking mask and antenna (Shown Below). If the change was more intense like the transformation in ‘American Werewolf in London’ then the experience would’ve been more enjoyable. Also the obnoxious and horrifically annoying buzzing noises happening 89% of the film became tedious, but I guess that fairly true to wasps in general
Watching this film was just as enjoyable as having a wasp trying to sit on your food whilst at a picnic. Just the whole time wanting it to go anyway, swatting at it. I would welcome the wasp with open arms if it was funny but its just annoying. Just a lot of it didn’t make sense either, the whole wasp jelly reversing ageing was strange but it was particularly weird when the process of de-aging a Guinea pig turns it into a mouse was a very interesting choice. So overall I wouldn’t recommend this at all, Its predictable as all hell so I would just recommend reading the title of the film instead because you get the same amount of the story but you don’t have to waste you time.
“Bees have never afraid to change the world. I mean, what about Bee Columbus, Bee Ghandi, Bee-Jesus?”
Review by Lewis Goodall
We all know Bee movie. Bee Movie tells the age old tale of Barry B Benson (voiced by Jerry Seinfeld who also wrote the film which explains everything) who has graduated Bee school with straight B’s. It’s not his chance to pick a job in the honey making industry which he must do for the remainder of his days. Finding out that he will be forced into this slavery of honey making he decides that his destiny lies outside the hive. Whilst out of the hive he meets a female companion vanessa (voiced by Renée Zellweger) who he builds a relationship with. Barry discovers that the human race has been stealing honey and makes the only logical decision to sue the human race.
Why is this film so incredibly, unironically amazing. It’s taken me this long to watch this film and I am ashamed of myself for taking this long. As I mentioned the film is mainly written by Jerry Seinfeld and the amount of bee puns crammed into this film is impressive, whilst also being self aware of how ridiculous the situation is. By the writing I would be convinced that this film was written for adults, it’s an animation and all but I feel the majority of the jokes definitely cater towards the parents who would be watching this with their children. Theres jokes about bees of course but also sex jokes, racist jokes and suicide jokes. All cleverly (if that’s the right word to use) woven into the writing to be unnoticed most of the time but I really found myself laughing out loud. Especially when vanessa first starts talking to Barry, unsure if shes in a dream or not she stabs herself in her hand with a fork and it all happened so first I had to rewind a few times so it could make me laugh over and over. It’s a film that people wouldn’t believe if you just explained it, you have to see if for yourself.
The scene in which the trial commences between the bees and the humans gold, the lawyer for the humans (voiced by the intense John Goodman) is so goofy, in fact that’s pretty much how I would sum up the film, it’s just goofy and ridiculous. The lawyer is the best in the business and realising that he’s losing the case. He manages to get Barry’s friend Adam (voiced by Matthew Broderick) to sting him on the arse to which a ballet of over the top telling and screaming comes out of the lawyer to convince the jury that the bees are evil. Of course stinging the lawyer was deadly so Adam is put in a full sized hospital bed and they replace his lost stinger with a plastic cocktail sword. I’m going far too in depth with saying it’s like a ballet, I’m just trying to sound fancy but the whole scene is just so much nonsense, I loved it.
This film isn’t a masterpiece, it’s far from it but it’s a fun easy watch, I was genuinely laughing out loud with the absurdity of what was happening so I think it just needed a short and sweet shout out because I couldn’t not talk about this film. I’m just wondering when its socially acceptable to watch it again.
I think I ought to start this review with a disclaimer, just in case Joaquin Phoenix ever stumbles upon this blog. I love Joaquin, I think he is a wonderful actor with amazing range and depth of character and what I’m about to say about this film does not affect my feelings about him as an artist nor human being whatsoever. Please forgive me Joaquin.
Phoenix plays a hired gun by the name of Joe who is tasked with rescuing a kidnapped young girl (Ekaterina Samsonov) by her father, New York state senator Albert Votto (Alex Mannette). I don’t know about you folks, but I’m already getting ‘Man On Fire’ flashbacks at this point. The young girl, Nina, has been abducted for use in a high end brothel along with several other underage girls and Joe sets out on what should be a fairly simple rescue mission.
Meanwhile, we begin to get to know Phoenix’s character a little better. We find out he helps to care for his aged mother (Judith Roberts) and still lives with her in his childhood home. We also see that Joe is severely plagued by PTSD; he spends an inordinate amount of time with his head inside a plastic bag and often has flashbacks to the abuse that he and his mother suffered at the hands of his hot-tempered father. The only real human interactions Joe has during the film are with his mother and his handler, John McLeary (John Doman).
Soon after rescuing Nina, Joe sees on the news that her father Senator Votto has committed suicide and two police officers bust into his hotel room to take Nina and attempt to kill Joe. While one police officer successfully kidnaps the girl (again), Joe is forced to kill the second officer in order to escape. Shortly after returning to his home he finds his mother shot through the head while laying in bed with a pillow over her face, used as a silencer. Joe soon realises the perpetrators are still in the house and fatally shoots one. The other government agent is wounded and Joe questions him on his mother’s death and the motive behind Nina’s kidnapping.
I won’t divulge much more about the plot although I’m sure you can guess where it’s going. The scene in which Joe questions the injured agent was a very interesting one. Joe shares the man’s dying minutes and actually seems to provide him with comfort during this time despite being the one who shot him. There is music playing in the background and the fatally wounded man tries to sing along, Joe even joins in. I found this to be one of the more pertinent scenes in the film and it was clear that this man was simply following orders and there had been little malice behind his actions.
The other scene that I found poignant was when Joe drives his mother’s body to a nearby lake. He waded into the water dressed in a suit and weighs her body down with rocks. Joe uses rocks to weigh himself down under the water in another suicidal ideation, but changes his mind when he remembers Nina. This scene was well shot, simple and beautiful. A stoic Joaquin played it well and the soundtrack was complimentary.
The soundtrack in most places was actually not bad, largely in contrast to the scene I found myself watching. When Joaquin is out on a mission we hear a song that sounds remarkably like a sinister version of ‘Danger Zone’ by Kenny Loggins and I’m honestly very disappointed that it wasn’t, wouldn’t you like to hear a heavy rock version of the ‘Top Gun’ classic?
One of my major beefs with this film is a lack of character development, for both Joe and Nina. We see glimpses of Joe’s childhood when he has flashbacks and he routinely acts on his suicidal urges but there is no development of this story line. Joe is as broken at the end of the film as he was at the start. He doesn’t appear to have learnt anything during this journey and I didn’t feel there was any healing aspect to what happens to him, even through his mother’s water burial. Similarly, Nina has obviously experienced her own traumas and appears to cope by counting backwards under her breath. She says very little for the duration of the movie and her character really felt like a shell, as though it hasn’t been fully thought out. I suppose maybe that was the point?
I found the story line to be rushed and there wasn’t a huge amount of clarity around Joe’s career situation or on Nina’s situation with Senator Votto and Governor Williams. The title of the film implies a focus on the presence of Phoenix’s character. The first few scenes of the film focus on Joe not being seen when he goes out, leaving a water fountain running but disappearing before anyone sees him, his outrage about being spotted by McLeary’s son. Initially there is a first person camera angle so even the audience don’t see Joe. Sadly, I felt this sentiment was lost as the film progressed and morphed into a lacklustre pastiche of other revenge style action films.
I would give ‘You Were Never Really Here’ 6 Lace Socks out of 10
“Cause one day I wanna make movies. I have this one idea. It’s about this baby. Like a… like a… like a super baby. It’s called Strong Baby”
Review by Lewis Goodall
Mid 90’s is a coming of age tale written and directed by Jonah Hill, that explores the life of Stevie (Sunny Suljic), a 13 year old who live in prime time 90’s where ninja turtle bed sheets were a must have. Stevie finds a way to escape his troubled home life when he stumbles upon a group of skaters around his age outside the local skate shop. Tapping into this fascination with skating, Stevie befriends his way into this diverse group who teach him what it’s like to really make your way through the streets and what it truly means to skate.
If you didn’t grow up in the 90’s then I feel sorry for you, even though to be fair my peak age in the 90’s was 4 but nonetheless I still wish to call myself a 90’s kid instead of a millennial. This film just drools 90’s all over you, from the music choices, down to the posters on the walls. 90’s to the point where (incoming fact) the projectionist who screened the film thought it was awesome that they managed to find an unreleased 90’s film and they are only just releasing it. They do an amazing job with this film to make it feel real, a lot of the time it feels more like I’m just watching home tapes of this group of friends, like national geographic but with skaters. This documentary feel to it is brought on by the 4:3 ratio and slightly grainey filter to give it that authentic 90’s feel which is a major credit to the direction. If it wasn’t for the ratio I don’t think that this film would’ve had as much as an impact as it does, which is strange but goes to prove that everything counts when creating a story to which Jonah Hill has done an incredible job.
This is Jonah Hill’s debut film and it oozes pure memories and you can tell that this film comes straight from his heart. Having a background of skating, its obvious that it resonates through this film where skating is obviously a big part of the film but it’s more about the connection between these friends and the skating that brings them all together. So as mentioned Stevie comes from a broken home where he lives with his single mother (Katherine Waterson) and his abusive older brother (Lucas Hedges). Looking for that escape from his brother beating his 13 year old tooshie, stevie comes across the group of skaters. In the group we have Ruben, the one who thinks he’s cool (Gio Galicia), Forth Grade, a nickname given to him because he has the mind of a forth grade (Ryder McLaughlin). We also have FuckShit, the best nickname known to man (Olan Prenatt) and lastly was have Ray, the older brother Stevie needs (Na-kel Smith). This group of guys nurture Stevie into their way of living by taking him to all the illegal skating spots and to parties. All these characters feel so real, purely down to the dialogue which feels more like it was all improved because of how natural it feels, down to insulting eachother and asking eachother the real questions like “do black people get sun burnt?”. As you see all their bonds becoming tighter, you can see the influence of these new friends rubbing off on Stevie where some bad decisions are made but ultimately you can see stevie start coming out of the shell that was built around him from the fear his brother has put on him. Seeing stevie become his own man is pretty seamless and Sunny does a great job of portraying this once feeble kid. Also I definitely recognised him from somewhere and Sunny voiced the Atreus in the new God of War game and that alone is fucking awesome. All of the friends do their parts well apart from maybe a couple of moments where the acting felt a bit flat but ultimately everyone does this film justice.
There were a few moments within the plot I felt were a bit cliche. It certainly followed the template to a coming of age film. I read that Jonah was Inspired by Shane Meadows ‘This is England’ which is very apparent within Mid 90’s. Just a few moments where I had to keep reminding myself that Stevie was 13 and not 8 which he looks (Suppose brief spoiler here so I’ll do a bunch of ‘*’ signs when it’s no longer spoiler territory). There is a moment in the story to which stevie is taken to his first house party and experiences his first sexual encounter. It was done incredibly in terms of all aspects, acting, the way it is shot, but the height difference between the two made it feel a bit uncomfortable, Stevie looks about 8 whereas who he is with looks about 16 which is very similar to ‘This is England’ when I think about it. This moment just felt a bit odd but the erection I got felt even weirder. ******************************* You’re safe now, no more spoilers. Something I mentioned in that spoiler section is just that it was shot very nicely, this goes for the whole experience of this film and you can tell that every shot was thought about which is what’s fantastic about directors debuts in general, you can always tell more thought a heart goes behind it.
Overall I feel even though this film does follow the beat of a typical coming of age film, I’d probably go as far as to say that this is my favourite coming of age film. Just everything is done so well and getting fisted with the big hand of nostalgia felt amazing. One of the problems I have with the film which isnt really a problem but it was a short film. The film runs are 1 hour and 25 minutes and I would’ve loved to of seen more. I got so invested with the story of these friends that I could’ve happily of kept watching for another hour. Swings and roundabouts though because as this is a short film its something I could recommend to anyone as it’s not much of an investment to a day. Short and sweet, just like the director.
Critically Ashamed 