Film Review - Despicable Me 4 (2024)

Despicable Me 4 is the newest entry in the Despicable Me series and this time Gru (Steve Carrell) is enjoying family life and working for the Anti-Villain League when he apprehends Maxime Le Mai (Will Ferrell) but when he escapes with the help of his partner in crime (Sofia Vergara) he vows revenge against Gru and his new baby son could be the key to helping him do that.

Despicable Me 4 does what you expect from this series and in these shaky times in which we live in that was enough for me for the most part, we get Gru doing his thing, we get Lucy and the daughters doing theirs and we definitely get the Minions (some of whom become superheroes which goes about as well as you could expect) doing their thing and it all worked and the storytelling in these films can at times feel episodic which sometimes bothers me and sometimes not feels more focused here in terms of bringing the various strands of storyline together.

As for Gru and his family they go okay but again it’s not that much new, Carrell is still fun to listen to as the character and the family moments are fun as well but what helps this part of the film is a new character named Poppy voiced by Joey King, her side quest with Gru is great fun and delivered some good laughs.

What also delivered good laughs were the Minions and yes I still enjoy their visual gag comedy moments and they still deliver great out loud laughs instead of the odd chuckle or giggle here or there that most comedies can sometimes feel like or when movies/TV shows try for comedy only to fall flat on their face but not here and the Mega Minions who were featured in one of the previews for the film is also good fun.

Where I do feel this movie falls a little short is the Le Pens, don’t get me wrong their not bad villains but their also not as fun to watch as Wild Knuckles and his group were in 2022’s The Rise of Gru or Balthazar Bratt was in 2017’s Despicable Me 3 but their also not as unmemorable as the villains in the first 2 films, instead they feel more like a repeat of Scarlet Overkill and her partner in crime from the first Minions spin off film.

And so that was Despicable Me 4 and it’s good fun if not as fun as the last 2 films in this series, 3 out of 5.

Film Review - Inside Out 2 (2024)

Inside Out 2 is the new Pixar film and the sequel to 2015’s Inside Out and this time Riley (Kensington Tailman) is turning 13 and her emotions Joy (Amy Poehler), Anger (Lewis Black), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Fear (Tony Hale) and Disgust (Liza Lapira) run their headquarters like a well oiled machine but when the Puberty alarm goes off on their console a wrecking crew comes in and a new console is installed and new emotions come in Anxiety (Maya Hawke), Envy (Ayo Edebiri), Embarrassment (Paul Walter Hauser) and Ennui (Adele Exarchopoulos) and they cast off the old emotions feeling they aren’t needed anymore but the old emotions still want to feel valid as well.

Inside Out 2 is a film that I have mixed feelings about, I don’t think it’s a bad movie per se but it’s also one that the more I think about it the more I find myself wishing it was a better movie.

But first what I do like first and foremost is Hawke as Anxiety from her fast talking, the way her hair looks like an explosion and how when she’s up and running it looks like a storm that consumes everything in it’s path and that character was a lot of fun to watch.

As for the other new emotions their okay but only really do one thing which is their core emotions, Embarrassment gets Embarrassed, Envy becomes envious and Ennui is bored by everything outside of their phone and I wish they had a little more to do in the film.

As for the old emotions again, Joy takes the lion share of the screen time and she has some good scenes but feels like the same over protective “my way or the highway” character she was in the first film and the other old emotions again don’t get a huge amount to do which is a bit of a shame as in the first film they felt like real characters who got their standout emotion moment and here you don’t really get either.

And this leads into why I feel mixed on this movie as watching it and thinking about it I wanted it to be better than it was, perhaps more emotional, more emotion character moments and a sense of growth and continuation now granted this movie deals with adolescence but not every kid goes through that time in their life the same way and I wish this sequel did that.

Instead this feels much more like Incredibles 2 than Toy Story 2 which I still feel is the gold standard of Pixar sequels and that film like this one was one that delivered a straight bat movie wise, it was out to give you exactly what you want and expect without rocking the boat too much and I wish the boat had been rocked more this time around as Toy Story 2 gave you something new, gave you a sense of growth and continuation and memorable moments for characters old and new.

But that also felt familiar in terms of its characters and storytelling to a certain extent and this movie doesn’t do that and I can see why as Disney has had a really bad time coming out of COVID (in both of my State of the Studios roundups from 2022 and 2023 they were in the bottom 2 places) and this is an easy sequel to make easy money and it delivers that but a part of me wanted something more to go along with the familiar like Toy Story 2 did.

And so that was Inside Out 2 and its okay if nothing you’ll go back to like you do with the first film or Toy Story 2 but given how good Pixar can be you want something better instead of middle of the road, 2 and a half out of 5.

Film Review - The Watchers (2024)

The Watchers is the new film by Ishana Night Shyamalan (daughter of M Night Shyamalan who also produces this movie and has his own film Trap coming later this year) and concerns a young woman named Mina (Dakota Fanning) transporting a rare bird to an Irish Zoo but gets trapped in a mysterious forest and is later taken to the coup where Madeline (Olwen Fouere), Clara (Georgina Campbell) and Daniel (Oliver Finnegan) reside and every night the Watchers come to watch them but there is more, much more to them than meets the eye.

The Watchers has some good ideas and visuals but it ultimately did very little for me as a film and I was keen to see what Shyamalan Jr was going to give us as I am a fan of her father, but it seems she’s learned some lessons from her old man except one key one which I’ll get to.

But first this movie looks pretty good with it’s bold oranges, dark tunnels, mysterious forests and effective atmosphere and it works fairly well in a dark cinema and the film has some good performances from its core cast members though I’m not as big a fan of Dakota as I am of her sister Elle but she’s fine here.

Plus this movie has some good ideas relating to other myths and legends but sadly I felt this movie felt a bit messy tone wise in regards to making these ideas feel fully formed in a way that didn’t feel like a tonal whiplash, at one point your in a horror setting and then it switches gears to something else entirely and those twists and turns didn’t feel as seamless for me.

And also what this movie lacks is memorable characters something that M Night’s films have had for the most part be it the Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, Split and even most recently Old and Knock at the Cabin whereas here Ishana I felt didn’t learn that lesson as well but hey this is her first time up at bat whereas dear old dad’s been a seasoned pro for many years so some mistakes will be made, hopefully she gets better with future films.

And so that was the Watchers and it didn’t do an awful lot for me I’m sorry to say, hopefully Trap is better later this year, 1 and a half out of 5.

Film Review - Bad Boys: Ride or Die (2024)

Bad Boys: Ride or Die is the fourth Bad Boys film and the second to be directed by Adil and Bilall who directed 2020’s Bad Boys for Life and this time Mike (Will Smith) has married Theresa (Tasha Smith) and Marcus (Martin Lawrence) has a heart attack at his wedding reception but the late Captain Howard (Joe Pantoliano) is later accused of being corrupt by his own Miami Police Department and so its up to the Bad Boys to do what they do and what they do best when they come for you.

Bad Boys: Ride or Die is one of those films where I go “This does exactly what it says on the box in the video shop” and it is not a bad thing here as I had a good time watching it and firstly it was great to see Adil and Bilall back in the directors chair and showing themselves as talented action directors after the mess of Batgirl at Warner Brothers, here they craft some fun action scenes that don’t use to hyper shaky editing too much and they come up with some neat angles during those moments as well.

Secondly both Smith and Lawrence work well as a duo and their chemistry feels like a shorthand at this point, this film is funnier than 2020’s film For Life but for the most part the humour works here though there were some scenes early on in the film where it didn’t work for me but those don’t last long.

And lastly this movie had some decent villains in it, so many of these action/adventure/sci-fi/fantasy films fail miserably to deliver on this point but this movie had some good ones that helped to enhance the drama on screen and I am very glad for that.

And so that was Bad Boys: Ride or Die and it’s a fun time at the cinema, it doesn’t aim to be anything more than that and it delivers it very enjoyably, 3 and a half out of 5.