The Angry Birds Movie Review

The Plot

Based on the popular mobile gaming app, The Angry Birds Movie reveals the story of just what happened between the titular birds and the egg stealing pigs. When their island is visited by mysterious green pigs it’s up to three unlikely outcasts – Red (Jason Sudekis), Chuck (Josh Gad) and Bomb (Danny McBride) – to figure out what they’re up to.

The Good

The first of the year’s big game to film adaptations (not counting last months Ratchet & Clank, which fell slightly under the radar), is one that will no doubt differ to the likes of the upcoming Warcraft and Assassins Creed if not mainly for its intended audience. Angry Birds is a colourful and, at times, fun family film for children that brings a host of well known names that both children and adults alike will recognize. For the younger ones it’s Frozen’s Josh Gad and for the older audience it’s names like Peter Dinklage, injecting some vocal charisma to unashamedly cartoonish characters.

The Bad

Unfortunately there is more to dislike about Angry Birds than to like. While the cast list is impressive and includes SNL cast members like Bill Hader and Maya Rudolph, as well as bigger names such as Sean Penn, the voice work doesn’t give them much to do. The biggest example can be found with Penn, who voices Terence, a giant red bird whose main input is a loud angry murmur which begs two questions: Why cast Sean Penn? And why bother telling us?

While this is very much marketed as a family film, much of the humour is ill judged to say the least. Countless butt jokes that grow very tiresome very quickly and a few crude jokes for the adults that make it hard to understand quite how it managed to retain a U rating.

But perhaps the biggest disappointment comes from the story. Anyone who has played the Angry Birds game (and considering it’s one of the most successful apps of all time it’ll be a fair few) will be coming into this expecting at least most of the action to come from the birds being slingshot through the air to destroy the pigs homes. Yet here, we are not given this until well into the third act. With all the main aspects of the game being introduced early on to suggest that it will come sooner. Even when it arrives, the action feels too quick and before you’ve even noticed, it’s drawing to a close.

The Ugly Truth

The Angry Birds Movie is occasionally fun with an impressive cast list. It’s just a shame that the idea isn’t executed nearly as well as it could have been and leaves us wanting much more.

Review by Johnny Ellis

I Saw The Light Review

The Plot

Tom Hiddleston stars in this biopic of country-western singer Hank Williams, chronicling his rise to fame and its tragic effect on his health and personal life.

 

The Good

Opening with a documentary style talking head from Bradley Whitford’s Fred Rose, co-writer and producer to the films main subject about whom he is waxing lyrical, I Saw The Light quickly moves on to a lone Tom Hiddleston, bathed in a spotlight performing a cappella. The aim of the scene is clear. Tom Hiddleston will be singing in this film, here is what he sounds like. Any doubts of Hiddleston’s musical talent are swiftly destroyed with this incredibly powerful and moving performance. And all this before we’ve even been formally introduced to the man!

The biggest praise for Marc Abraham’s biopic of country legend Hank Williams must go to Hiddleston. Completely and utterly owning the part and doing so with an incredibly compelling voice, Hiddleston is a joy to watch on screen and gives his very best performance. During the decade or so of Hank’s life that we’re taken through, performances are blissfully peppered throughout.

The Bad

Though Hiddleston’s opening scene does achieve it’s aim of taking the question of his performance away almost instantly, the story that follows it feels lost. As we are taken through Hank’s increasingly strained relationship with his wife Audrey (played by a somewhat forgettable Elizabeth Olsen)  and his emaciating health battles, a lack of emotion in it’s storytelling is abundantly clear. In every scene it feels like the camera has just missed out on the inciting incident and is instead following the, frankly dull, aftermath.

The supporting cast, including the aforementioned Olsen and Whitford as well as Maddie Hasson as one of Hank’s young mistresses and 24 alumni Cherry Jones as his mother Lillie all feel disappointingly underused and ultimately inferior to Hiddleston. Looking at their back catalogue it’s clear to see it’s not the actors themselves who are the problem, but rather the absence of any interesting plot lines for their characters.

The Ugly Truth

Ultimately I Saw The Light becomes a wasted opportunity. A musical biopic that tries to go down the traditional route much akin to Walk The Line or Ray in some respects, but opens too late in Hank Williams’ life to truly give any emotional depth to the character. The only light to see in the film is that of Tom Hiddleston’s dazzling  acting and vocal performances transcend the empty story.

Review by Johnny Ellis

The Nice Guys Might Get 80s Sequel

Talking to Red Carpet News at the London press conference for The Nice Guys Director Shane Black and star Russell Crowe offered their thoughts on a potential sequel to the 70s buddy comedy. Shane Black admitted he’d like to see the series turn into a franchise and move on from the 70s to the 1980s.

All I can say, as I have a bit of canoodling to do on that actually, I love this idea of a sort of time-locked franchise, which means it will never catch up to us. So the sequel will be something in the 80s on an issue of that era, so we can throw these guys up against that wall and see what sticks. I think a fun idea is a timeless private eye who proceeds through a series of historical incidents but will never get to the present day.

Meanwhile Russell Crowe teased about the fact that mentioning sequels has a habit of bringing bad luck to projects.

Interesting thing about sequels, it seems every movie I do someone asks in a press conference if there will be a sequel and then it never happens. So now you’ve f*cked it up for everyone! I mean, certainly there is a lot we can do with these characters so it could be fun. For some reason Ryan and I think the title “The Nice Guys Mexican Detectives” is hilarious and I don’t know why.

Alice Through The Looking Glass Pictures

Johnny Depp, Mia Wasikowska, Sacha Baron Cohen, Tim Burton and Director James Bobin gave a press conference in London ahead of the European Premiere for he Disney live action Alice In Wonderland sequel Through The Looking Glass. Check out a gallery of pictures and full video coverage below:

 

BAFTA TV Awards 2016 Winners List

Here is a full list of winners for the 2016 BAFTA TV Awards 2016. Wolf Hall, Doctor Foster, Thi is England and Peter Kay’s Car Share were among the big winners on the star studded night, with the awards ceremony attended by stars like Anna Kendrick, Mark Rylance, Justin Timberlake and Tom Hiddleston.

Leading actor

Winner: Mark Rylance, Wolf Hall

Idris Elba, Luther

Stephen Graham, This is England ’90

Ben Whishaw, London Spy

Leading actress

Winner: Suranne Jones, Doctor Foster

Claire Foy, Wolf Hall

Ruth Madeley, Don’t Take My Baby

Sheridan Smith, The C-Word

Supporting actor

Winner: Tom Courtenay, Unforgotten

Anton Lesser, Wolf Hall

Ian McKellen, The Dresser

Cyril Nri, Cucumber

Supporting actress

Winner: Chanel Cresswell, This is England ’90

Michelle Gomez, Doctor Who

Lesley Manville, River

Eleanor Worthington-Cox, The Enfield Haunting

Entertainment performance

Winner: Leigh Francis, Celebrity Juice

Stephen Fry, QI

Graham Norton, The Graham Norton Show

Romesh Ranganathan, Asian Provocateur

Male performance in a comedy programme

Winner: Peter Kay, Peter Kay’s Car Share

Hugh Bonneville, W1A

Toby Jones, Detectorists

Javone Prince, The Javone Prince Show

Female performance in a comedy programme

Winner: Michaela Coel, Chewing Gum

Sian Gibson, Peter Kay’s Car Share

Miranda Hart, Miranda

Sharon Horgan, Catastrophe

Drama series

Winner: Wolf Hall

Humans

The Last Panthers

No Offence

Single drama

Winner: Don’t Take My Baby

The C-Word

Cyberbully

The Go-Between

Mini-series

Winner: This is England ’90

Doctor Foster

The Enfield Haunting

London Spy

Soap and continuing drama

Winner: EastEnders

Coronation Street

Emmerdale

Holby City

International

Winner: Transparent

The Good Wife

Narcos

Spiral

Entertainment programme

Winner: Strictly Come Dancing

Adele at the BBC

Britain’s Got Talent

TFI Friday Anniversary Special

Comedy and comedy entertainment programme

Winner: Have I Got News For You

Charlie Brooker’s Election Wipe

QI

Would I Lie to You

Scripted comedy

Winner: Peter Kay’s Car Share

Chewing Gum

Peep Show

People Just Do Nothing

Features

Winner: The Great British Bake Off

Back in Time for Dinner

Kevin McCloud: Escape to the Wild

Travel Man

Radio Times Audience Award

Winner: Poldark

Doctor Foster

The Great British Bake Off

Humans

Making a Murderer

Peter Kay’s Car Share

Current affairs

Winner: Outbreak: The Truth about Ebola

Jihad: A British Story

Children of the Gaza War

Escape from Isis (Dispatches)

Single documentary

Winner: My Son the Jihadi

Bitter Lake

Life After Suicide

Louis Theroux: Transgender Kids

Factual series

Winner: The Murder Detectives

The Detectives

Great Ormond Street

The Tribe

Reality and constructed factual

Winner: First Dates

Gogglebox

I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!

The Secret Life of 5 Year Olds

Specialist factual

Winner: Britain’s Forgotten Slave Owners

Grayson Perry’s Dream House

The Hunt

Rudolf Nureyev: Dance to Freedom

News coverage

Winner: Channel 4 News: Paris Massacre

BBC News at Six: Paris Attacks Special

ITV News at Ten: Refugee Crisis

Sky News: From Turkey to Greece

Sport

Winner: The Ashes (Sky Sports)

The Grand National (Channel 4)

MOTD Live: FA Cup Final (BBC One)

Six Nations: Final Day (BBC One)

Live event

Winner: Big Blue Live (BBC One)

The Sound of Music Live! (ITV)

Stargazing Live: Brit in Space, Tim Peake Special (BBC Two)

The Vote (More4)