Film: Yesterday

GENRE: Comedy, Fantasy

RATING: PG-13 for language
RUNTIME: 1 hour and 56 minutes

STARRING: Himesh Patel (EastEnders - British TV series)

Lily James (Baby Driver, Cinderella), Joel Fry (Game of Thrones)

DIRECTOR: Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, Slumdog Millionare, 127 Hours)

WRITER: Richard Curtis (Love Actually, Four Weddings and a Funeral)

PLOT: A struggling musician miraculously becomes the only person on Earth who can remember The Beatles and uses it to his advantage.  

FULL DISCLOSURE: Love the premise. Love The Beatles.

STORY STUFF: I love a good ‘what if’ film. Films like Big, Liar Liar and Truman Show always make you think while having a good time at the theatre. This film is no exception. How would I handle it if I was in this situation? I love some of the twists and turns Curtis employs. While some might not like the resolution, I have no problem with it. My one issue is how moronic Jack is by not recognizing the amazingness of Ellie right from the start. She’s a ray of sunshine that cannot be ignored. I also took some offense to a line the implied that a school teacher does not have time to engage in outside creative endeavors. I beg to differ.

ACTING STUFF: Patel plays the struggling musician well with his charm and internal conflict. Again, he is also moronically blind. Like I said, James is a ray of sunshine. Fry is bumbling fun as a sidekick. Kate McKinnon (SNL) goes big but that is to be expected. Ed Sheeran has fun with his persona (that ringtone – so tacky). Alexander Arnold plays a small role but his performance reminded me of a mix between Cillian Murphy (Batman Begins) and Stephen Merchant (Extras). Fun stuff.

ARTISTIC STUFF: Great use of music. (Thanks Beatles.) Liked the editing with the jumps to the Google search. Some of the camera angles did not work for me. A dutch tilt is used early in the film and it looked awkward, and not in a good way.

VERDICT: Four and a half stars out of five

SEE IT IF: You like The Beatles and a good premise (and rom-coms)

UPCOMING REVIEWS: Spiderman: Far from Home

Film: Toy Story 4

GENRE: Animated Adventure

RATING: G for action sequences
RUNTIME: 1 hour and 40 minutes

STARRING: Tom Hanks (Toy Story, Forrest Gump, Big, Cast Away)

Annie Potts (Toy Story, Ghostbusters), Tony Hale (Veep)

DIRECTOR: Josh Cooley (newcomer)

WRITERS: Andrew Stanton (Toy Story, Finding Nemo, Wall-E)

Stephany Folsom (TV-Star Wars Resistance)

PLOT: Woody tries to help Bonnie by saving Forky and realizes that there may be a different future for some toys.    

FULL DISCLOSURE: Was a bit skeptical about this fourth one.

STORY STUFF: Not the strongest story of the franchise but definitely had a plenty of awesome moments. There are some laugh-out loud moments, fun action sequences, a couple creepy scenes and a few heart-tugging lines. My major issue with the story was that the toys would go through all this work to, let’s say rescue someone, only to have them not want to be rescued. This happens multiple times. Regardless, the good outweighs the bad though.

ACTING STUFF: Hanks still brings the awesome as Woody. The whole original cast for that matter does a bang up job. Loved Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele (Key & Peele) as the plushy Ducky and Bunny with their ‘imaginative’ plans. Also loved Keanu Reeves (John Wick) as Canadian stuntman Duke Caboom. Such fun new characters. Hale’s Forky is too one note at the beginning but once he realizes his purpose grows on you with some very funny lines.

ARTISTIC STUFF: The animation is impeccable. There is this is puddle shot in the opening that was amazing. It’s short but impressed me. I was shocked and saddened that there was no Pixar short before the film. I love those mini films.

VERDICT: Four stars out of five

SEE IT IF: You like Toy Story (and if you don’t – what’s wrong with you?)

UPCOMING REVIEWS: Yesterday

Film: Aladdin

GENRE: Adventure, Musical

RATING: PG for action sequences
RUNTIME: 2 hours and 8 minutes

STARRING: Will Smith (Fresh Prince, MiB, Bad Boys, I Robot)

Mena Massoud (Jack Ryan), Naomi Scott (Power Rangers)

DIRECTOR: Guy Ritchie (Sherlock Holmes, Snatch, Man from UNCLE)

WRITERS: John August (Charlie’s Angels, Charlie & Chocolate Factory) 
Guy Ritchie (Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch)

PLOT: A commoner gets a magic lamp and uses its genie to help woo the princess but an evil grand vizier also wants the genie’s powers.   

FULL DISCLOSURE: I loved the original Disney cartoon.

STORY STUFF: Ritchie and August do a pretty good job of sticking to the Disney story while adding a few embellishments. The addition of Nasim Pedrad (SNL, New Girl) as Dalia added some fun to Jasmine’s storyline. I also liked the minor backstory add-on for Jafar. The extra loyalty of Hakim didn’t seem needed though. If you like the Disney cartoon, you’ll probably be okay with this live version.

ACTING STUFF: Will Smith is no Robin Williams. He had some mighty big shoes to fill but I was glad that he made the genie his own. Just imagine less impersonations and more rap bravado. I also had no problem with him being blue. Aladdin and Jasmine are well cast. They sing well and are lovely together. Again, Pedrad is a fun addition. I’m also glad they made the sultan less of an imbecile this time around. I did miss Gilbert Gottfried as Iago (Sorry, Alan Tudyk – I usually like you but not as much this time) but glad they kept voice artist Frank Welker as the Cave of Wonders.

ARTISTIC STUFF: I was incredibly worried when I saw this version of ‘One Jump’ (a song I really enjoy from the cartoon version). Ritchie did some weird editing by speeding and slowing down sequences that felt disjointed. Luckily everything was back on track with the next song, ‘Friend Like Me’. The songs are performed well and I enjoyed Jasmine’s number, ‘Speechless’ written by Benj Pasek & Justin Paul, the geniuses behind The Greatest Showman, La La Land and Dear Evan Hansen. The visuals are impressive, especially the costumes and sets. Of course, some of the CG is a bit much at times.

VERDICT: Four stars out of five

SEE IT IF: You like live versions of cartoons like The Jungle Book.

UPCOMING REVIEWS: Yesterday

Film: John Wick Chapter 3 - Parabellum

GENRE: Action

RATING: R for strong violence and some language
RUNTIME: 2 hours and 11 minutes

STARRING: Keanu Reeves (The Matrix, Speed, Point Break)

Halle Berry (Die Another Day), Ian McShane (Deadwood)

DIRECTOR: Chad Stahelski (John Wick, John Wick: Chapter 2)

WRITERS: Derek Kolstad (John Wick), Marc Abrams (Bernie Mac Show),

Chris Collins (The Wire, Sons of Anarchy), Shay Hatten (newcomer)

PLOT: John Wick is on the run with a every assassin trying to kill him to get their $14 million reward.  

FULL DISCLOSURE: I expected a kick-ass conclusion to the franchise.  

STORY STUFF: Lots of fast paced action sequences mixed with slower exposition about the assassin organization rules. Some great action set pieces (like the library and the bizarre storage space with knives and chandeliers) but I’m wondering why it took four people to write this. Unfortunately, the fights start to get repetitive as the movie goes on.

ACTING STUFF: Reeves plays Wick with amazing precision as he kicks ass and shows the pain. Berry is a welcome addition and looks like she’s having a lot of fun. I also really liked Mark Dacascos (Hawaii 5-0) as Wick’s main nemesis who also happens to be a fan-boy. Asia Kate Dillon (Billions) is perfectly calm as The Adjudicator which plays nicely against the smarmy McShane. I was glad to see Lance Reddick (The Wire) get more screentime but wished Jason Mantzoukas (Brooklyn Nine-Nine) got more lines. Overall a fun cast.

ARTISTIC STUFF: It’s mind boggling to imagine just how much time must have gone into choreographing those fight sequences. They are pretty spectacular. I was also super impressed with the lighting; always a nice contrast of colours that make each space come alive. Beautiful cinematography at times.

VERDICT: Four and a half stars out of five

SEE IT IF: You’ve seen the first two and want more kicks and gunshots.

UPCOMING REVIEWS: Aladdin