Film Review - The Duke (2022)

The Duke is directed by the late Roger Michell and stars Jim Broadbent as Kempton Bunton an old age pensioner in Newcastle, England in 1961 who is actively campaigning for free TV licenses for pensioners and war widows feeling it to be unjust to be paying for the BBC and then needing a licence to have a television to watch it so he decided to steal the portrait of the Duke of Wellington now on display in London but keeping it from his wife (Helen Mirren) will not be easy.

 

The Duke is a really good time at the movies and it was one that I enjoyed watching quite a bit and a lot of that comes down to Jim Broadbent firstly, he continues to be a loveable and affable screen presence and the moral conviction he displays in this role gets you on his side almost right away whether it be standing up for others, fighting for free TV licenses or making people laugh in the court.

 

Secondly I found myself very interested in the overall storytelling being told here now in Australia we haven’t had TV Licenses here for a very long time (the NFSA has done a great story on this here: https://www.nfsa.gov.au/latest/radio-and-tv-licences) and I didn’t even know the UK had had them and still do to this day despite TV being as much a hub for gaming and streaming as it is for overall channel watching so to see a story like this being told in a fun way by Michell was quite good and there are also some fun references to 60s movies in some of the editing.

 

Also the film has a good cast outside of Broadbent and Mirren, Fionn Whitehead from Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk is very good as their son as is Matthew Goode as Kempton’s lawyer in court and I also enjoyed Jack Bandeira as the Bunton’s older son Kenny.

 

And so that was the Duke and sadly this would be Roger Michell’s final film before his passing last year but he left behind a worthy finale to his career with this film and its well worth a watch if you get the chance, 4 out of 5.

 

Film Review - Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (2022)

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is the sequel to the surprisingly fun 2020 film based off of the long running and hit and miss video game series and this time Sonic (Ben Schwartz) is keen to prove his worth to his new home world of Earth much to the disappointment of his sheriff father (James Marsden) but his old foe Dr. Robotnik (Jim Carrey) has found his way back to Earth and this time with a new ally Knuckles (Idris Elba) but Sonic may soon have a new ally of his own in the form of Tails (Colleen O’Shaughnessey) as both parties seek to find the lost Master Emerald which can wield great power but also be a deadly weapon in the wrong hands.

 

I was very keen for this Sonic sequel as I was very surprisingly taken by the 2020 film (one of the last to be released before the dark times, before the Coronavirus pandemic) it was a lot more fun than I thought it would be and in large part that was due to Schwartz and Carrey performing their roles to great effect and this time Idris Elba was in the cast as Knuckles and it gave me hope that this sequel could deliver the goods and we would have a new quality family film franchise after the Paddington and Despicable Me films.

 

And boy does this sequel deliver the goods but while I don’t think its better than the first film I do think it is as good and this time the filmmakers know what it is they have, a likeable hero in Sonic and a great fun villain in Robotnik and both Schwartz and Carrey again step up to the plate and deliver good performances in their roles though Carrey I felt took a little bit more of a backseat this time and I think the film suffers a little bit because of that.

 

But instead we get Tails and Knuckles as the new main characters and they do not disappoint, Tails and Sonic have a very good chemistry together and make for a likeable pair of heroes as they hunt down the Master Emerald but like all good heroes they need great villains to lift them up and both Carrey and Elba make for a great pair of those and while their storyline feels a little predictable Elba makes for a great Knuckles and his fight scenes with Sonic are a delight and it made me hopeful somewhat for a proper live action Dragon Ball movie one day.

 

As for the fight scenes well this has to be the best third act I’ve seen in a movie like this in a long time as the film wisely saves a big chunk of its action beats for this part of the film and it really delivers the goods and makes great use of the characters good and bad plus there are a couple of big references that long time fans will love.

 

But aside from the back seating of Robotnik the film is also a little too long, it runs only a minute or two over 2 hours and that length is felt especially during a middle section of the film in Hawaii that for me really ground the film to a halt for a comedy segment that felt very out of place and made some kids in my session a little restless but the rest of the film more than makes up for this I feel.

 

And so that was Sonic 2 and this is one sequel that does not disappointment and establishes this franchise as a quality one for family audiences as well as big kid hearted adults I sincerely hope Paramount keeps this same team around for one last run that brings in Shadow and Metal Sonic as that would make a fantastic trilogy of films, 4 out of 5.

 

Film Review - The Bad Guys (2022)

The Bad Guys is based off of a childrens book series and concerns a group of criminals made up of a Wolf (Sam Rockwell), a Snake (Marc Maron), a Tarantula (Akwafina), a Shark (Craig Robinson) and a Piranha (Anthony Ramos) who love to perform bank heists and chase the cops who are determined to catch them and lock them away but one night they learn of the greatest prize ever to be stolen the Golden Dolphin which no burglar has yet to steal so they plot to do so but some within the group may be starting to have a change of heart about the life of a thief and criminal.

 

The Bad Guys is a nice surprise, I had heard about this movie and that it was about a group of criminals and thought “This might be fun” after all I do enjoy a good villain in the movies and this one delivers a fun group of crooks who’s opening car chase reminded me a lot of Grand Theft Auto 5 and the car chases I would have in that game (which is very R rated by the way.)

 

The heist story here is a good one as well with plenty of the usual trademarks of doubts, double crosses, unexpected twists and turns and it all worked pretty well for me and the main group of crooks do a good job of anchoring the film plus there is the films other main characters the Governor (Zasie Beetz) and Professor Rupert Marmalade the Fourth (Richard Ayoade) who act as nice foils for the main cast.

 

Also the film has some very nice animation moments in it that were fast and smooth but not overly done to the point where you couldn’t tell what was going on and like Turning Red from last month it reminded me that animation can still do some things the real world can’t despite the advances in digital technology in the last 30 years.

 

And so that was the Bad Guys and its good fun for family audiences and I was surprised by how much I liked it, 3 out of 5.