Enjoy!
Sing
2016 | 108 min | Animation / Musical / Comedy
Sing delivers colorfully animated, cheerfully undemanding
entertainment with a solid voice cast and a warm-hearted — albeit
familiar — storyline that lives up to its title. [Rotten Tomatoes]
J: It’s a fun animated movie, it’s got some good jokes and fantastic voice acting, and I was pretty entertained all the way through it, but much like ‘The Secret Life Of Pets’ (which we review later in this post) it’s nothing to write home about. The movie felt modern and current, which kids will love, but that same quality is its downfall. With all the modern, current music in it, it will quickly start to feel old and dated. But then I’m a sucker for properly scored movies with orchestras and the works!
L: I really enjoyed Sing, it was an easy, light-hearted watch. There wasn’t anything particularly different or new about the storyline but it didn’t feel boring. Gunter was by far my favourite character and brought the most comedic moments to the film. My only real issue with it was some of the song choices, nearly all of them were modern songs and I get why it was done when it’s a film aimed at kids but it means the film quickly becomes dated.
The Belko Experiment
2017 | 88 min | Horror / Thriller
In a twisted social experiment, a group of 80 Americans are locked in
their high-rise corporate office in Bogota, Colombia and ordered by an
unknown voice coming from the company’s intercom system to participate
in a deadly game of kill or be killed. [Rotten Tomatoes]
J: The premise of this film is great: kill or be killed. You have no choice…it’s an absolute lose-lose for all involved! The acting was great and you felt like the characters were in real danger. And I liked the black security guard too, he provided quite a few chuckles. Wait…it’s not racist if I say that in a lot of movies the chubby black guy is always funny and lovable, right? Anyway, it’s grim and definitely worth watching. I liked the wide open ending too, I’d be happy for there to be a sequel!
L: I really enjoyed this film. I think I’ve said it before but horror and thriller films are by far my favourite genres and this did not disappoint. I had no idea that this was by the same producer as The Conjuring and Annabelle until I started writing this post. In all honesty it doesn’t feel like those films at all which is good because we’ve reviewed Annabelle on here before and we weren’t fans! As is usually the case though this was left wide open for a sequel but not in a way that doesn’t provide you with a satisfying enough ending.
United 93
2006 | 110 min | Biographical drama
This is the story of the takeoff and hijacking of United Airlines Flight
93 by terrorists, the discovery by passengers with cell phones that
other hijacked planes had been steered into the World Trade Center
towers, and the realization that their plane was being steered toward
Washington D.C. [Rotten Tomatoes]
J: This movie captures the confusion and panic as the terror attacks of 9/11 were happening. It feels almost like a documentary at times (a point which annoyed Lauren because she’s simple and she doesn’t like it when she has to go for extended periods of time without seeing a dancing animal or an upbeat musical number). Maybe it’s because I remember 9/11 happening and I vividly remember little 11 year old me watching it still unfolding when I got home from school, but I think this film is fantastic and accurately portrays what went down that day. Literally.
L: I don’t want to give this a bad review because of its subject matter but then again part of me feels like it may have only received glowing reviews exactly for that reason. I didn’t enjoy this film at all, and while I have to applaud it for treating the real life events well and not resorting to big Hollywood tactics, it bored me. I didn’t particularly enjoy how it was shot, it felt less like a film and more like I was looking in on the events which again goes back to keeping things simple, but there was no real dialogue happening. For people with a real interest in the events of 9/11 this would be a brilliant film but it just wasn’t for me.
The Secret Life of Pets
A comedy about the lives our pets lead after we leave for work or school each day. The Secret Life of Pets offers a beautifully animated, cheerfully undemanding family-friendly diversion. [Rotten Tomatoes]
J: I don’t really have much to say about this movie…I think I covered it in my review for Sing. Pleasant enough, funny, loved Kevin Hart as the psychopath rabbit, but…it’s no Disney, Pixar or even Dreamworks classic. I do believe that Lauren thinks this is what really happens when people go out and leave their pets, and she found this movie to be every bit as factual as ‘United 93’ though. Which is weird really.
L: Much like Sing, this was a simple and easy watch though I think I preferred this one ever so slightly more than Sing. It was funny and at times heart-warming and a perfect chill-out day film for both adults and kids. Kevin Hart as the rabbit, Snowball, was of course very entertaining as were various other little pop up characters that kept the film flowing nicely. Of course it ended with that all important fairy-tale ending too!
If you only watch one of these films it should be…
J: The Belko Experiment
L: The Belko Experiment
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