Movie review - "If" (2024) ** (warning spoilers)

 A bright idea - imaginary friends need a home - and some lovely moments (a dance to 'Better Be Good to Me', reuniting imaginary friends with adults) but it doesn't quite work. The rules of the world feel so arbitrary (sometimes you can see "if"s, sometimes you can't; what triggers recognition?), it's needlessly confusing (what is John Krasinsky in hospital for, why not spell out things - I read on wikipedia he was in for heart surgery but it's not clear in the film where it always looks like he's just visiting).

They may as well have said up front that Ryan Reynolds was the girl's "if" - sure it's a nice reveal but not knowing it just feels weird why he was helping this girl. Some irritating things like Krasinski and Reynolds look alike, and the flashbacks to home movies, we often see the three of them, who is holding the camera?

The lead girl gives a professional performance -there was something "I've been acting since I was two" about it. That's unfair I know it's how I felt.

I think Krasinsky needed a co writer on this. A Quiet Place worked because writers had given him a great script.

Movie review - "The Adam Project" (2022) ***1/2

 Entertaining and surprisingly moving time travel thing which benefits from the star power of Ryan Reynolds plus the backing of Jennifer Garner, Mark Ruffalo and Catherine Keener. Lovely emotion and solid acting - the kid who plays the young Reynolds is great.

Movie review - "Red Notice" (2021) *** (warning: spoilers)

 Old fashioned big loud dumb action-adventure movie with stars. Ryan Reynolds pushes it home. Dwayne Johnson is bored, Gal Gadot looks beautiful and is having fun as a villain. I wish Gadot and Johnson had swapped roles to have some romancing instead of the homoerotic Dwayne Johnson stuff he seems to specialise in.

The film leaps to life right at the end when it's revealed Johnson and Gadot are in cahoots - the three leads really start interacting instead of it being a buddy movie with Gadot occasionally interrupting. The ending was fun.

Movie review - X-men#4 - "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" (2009) **

 Wolverine gets his own movie - it skips over him fighting with his brother in World War Two, and then we go into a brand new team full of mutants including Deadpool, then by minute 18 he's out, and with a girlfriend. Nothing wrong with banging through story but I wonder if they do it too quickly.

It's the classic sort of movie which seems unsure of its core. Which is dumb the core is so obvious: it should be about Wolverine and his brother, and Wolverine and his girlfriend. But the actor who plays the girl isn't up to it, and the film seems unsure of itself - it smells of "hey lets put this in" so you've got a bit of Ryan Reynolds, then a bit of Will Am I, and a bit of Taylor Kisch (who comes in at the end, and a bit of the blob, a bit of all these other movies.

It's a great example of how you can go wrong if you don't focus on the core. This movie has a core but doesn't focus on it.

It feels like a patchwork quilt. Not good. There were added quips and bits like Wolverine throwing his cigar on some flame. It just got annoying.

Movie review - "Hobbs and Shaw" (2019) **1/2

Big, loud and silly, but with two likeable stars, several enjoyable cameos that you wish were longer (Kevin Hart, Ryan Reynolds, Helen Mirren), an exciting new star (Vanessa Kirby), a decent villain (Idris Elba) and some excellent action scenes.

It's never as fun as I wanted it to be - they waste Kirby in particular, she's an excellent actor, but she has no character to play. Her "romance" with Dwayne Johnson is underwhelming especially as he only has eyes for Jason Statham.

It looks handsome, I love the third act going to Samoa, and there's some memorable OTT moments like Johnson pulling a helicopter with a chain, and a motorbike rider going under a truck. The Honest Trailers on this totally nailed it, by the way - it's like a Marvel movie.

Movie review - "6 Underground" (2019) **1/2

The opening car chase is thrilling and Ryan Reynolds is likeable as always - indeed, the acting is strong (as it so often tends to be in Michael Bay films). There's some funny lines and Bay's direction is energetic as always.

But it's not much of a story -the premise could possibly have been turned into something interesting but there's no real character work. They don't do anything interesting with the idea of someone being dead to do good deeds. The plot - to overthrow a corrupt dictator - is way too simple with no twists or complications. It's also very easy for the heroes to do it all.

Production values are first rate. Character work is awful.

Script review - "Deadpool" by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick

A bright, funny, irreverent script that laid the ground work for a very successful film. The dialogue is dense, rich and inventive, the scenes are consistently clever. The storyline is quite basic - but I found it ran more smoothly than the film. (Maybe I wasn't paying enough attention to the film). At it's heart it's a love story which it needs to be to have emotional stakes. Extremely good work.

Movie review - "Deadpool" (2016) ***1/2

They're a very smart bunch at Marvel, getting more life out of their old formula by coming up with a fresh twist - an extremely meta, self referential R rated version. Ryan Reynolds is perfectly cast in the lead - ditto TJ Miller as his best friend.

They comment on the tropes while still delivering them  - hooker with a heart of gold, "bad guy" with a heart of gold, getting revenge, a superhero so talented there's no real threat to him, a damsel in distress who pretends to not be a damsel in distress. It's smart arseness and cleverness does get annoying at times but other times it is genuinely funny with some brilliantly smart bits. It does have integrity which is why I think people responded to it so much.

Movie review - "Definitely Maybe" (2008) **1/2

The Working Title rom com done in America, though it still feels very English - so much of the humour comes from embarassment and awkwardness (Ryan Reynolds being busted with toilet rolls and talking to his young daughter about sex, sexually confident female leads), and there are some scenes that feel so English (a love poem to smoking).

I like Reynolds as an actor and as a star when he's doing his sarcastic thing. But he seems uncomfortable playing a shy Everyman - it's a role that needed Hugh Grant or someone more boffin-y. He's kind of a nothing. Kevin Kline is fine in his colourful support cast but you know someone like Bill Nighy or Rhys Ilfans would have knocked it out of the park.

As the trio of girls, Elizabeth Banks, Rachel Weisz and Isla Fisher are fun and beautiful and Abigail Breslin does what's required as the girl. I enjoyed the passage of time stuff, hated that Reynolds took so long to give the book to Fisher, the support casts and Bill Clinton stuff always felt like it was going to do more than it did; it's good (if that's the right word) to have a movie acknowledge the pain of divorce. This wasn't perfect, but it has charm and it lingered in the mind.

Movie review - "Safe House" (2012) *** (warning: spoilers)

Decent Hollywood action film which has the benefit of two of the film capital's more talented stars, a reasonably original premise, and a novel setting (i.e. Cape Town, South Africa). As if to compensate, it develops into what William Goldman calls "Hollywood horseshit" - supposed bad ass Denzel Washington coming back to rescue Ryan Reynolds... really? The real baddies are - gasp - the CIA. And Ryan leaking stuff on the internet because, you know, that's moral. Come on...

But it is a good set up. Safe houses are an interesting concept - and I was looking forward to seeing Denzel do some of this master manipulation his character is supposed to be famed for. We see a glimpse of it but not a lot - the rest of it is mainly running/driving around Cape Town going bang bang, which is quite well done, albeit with one too many easy escapes from tight spots. (I wonder: was there more complex drama between the two lead characters in the original script? Or maybe not - they get out of the safe house awfully fast and it becomes more of a man-on-the-run movie.)

The South African locales are lovely - it's a shame there's not a decent sized South African role in it (seriously - it's packed full of Americans except for Ryan Reynolds' girlfriend, who is French). Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed this - I just wanted to love it, and I didn't.

Movie review - "The Change Up" (2011) **1/2

Some very talented, likeable stars and hilarious lines but too much of it is false - Jason Bateman surely wouldn't risk his legal career and ditto Ryan Reynolds his acting career to prove themselves. Olivia Wilde is stunning and her body double has a nice arse but she's not convincing as a girl who secretly likes baseball and beer and is just a regular guy. It might have been better if the two leads weren't good friends but rather enemies. It whimps out too - as if Bateman isn't going to have sex with Wilde when he has the chance.

Movie review – “Buried” (2010) ***1/2

I was mainly interested to see how they pulled off ninety minutes in a coffin and I've got to say they did it - so three cheers to everyone involved. After the opening few minutes I got used to being stuck in there. Sometimes the logic didn't quite work - I felt Ryan Reynolds would be calling up everyone under the sun, telling his story and explaining what was going on. But then I guess his character is stuck in a box and not thinking well. Some clever stuff involving mobile phones; Reynolds' back story could have been developed a little more I felt (eg his relationship with his wife).

Movie review - Waiting (2004) ***

I approached this film with some trepidation – Clerks set in a restaurant – but was surprised to find it clever, warm and delightful. OK, maybe not “warm”, but a lot better than I thought it would be. Had a lovely feeling of reality and authenticity (that slightly hedonistic early 20s restaurant world of drugs, alcohol and sex), the cast had real camaraderie, the characters were recognizable (the girl who hates the world who works in hospitality, the lady killer with a taste for high school girls, the Lolita-like vixen at front counter, the two bus boys who slack off and want to be rap stars, the manic chefs), the running gag about showing genitals genuinely funny. 

There are flaws, which struck me more after seeing the film: the female characters are under-utilised (Anna Faris is wasted, in particular – you keep expecting her to do something but she only gets to have one monologue), Ryan Reynolds is a little too old for his role, the device of having a wise old black man as a yoda figure is irritating. It’s pleasing to see Justin Long playing slightly less wimpy than usual.

Movie review - "Just Friends" (2006) **1/2

The central story of this struck a chord - and why not, the myth is so strong: a man comes back to his home town ten years after leaving; no longer fat and a loser he's now handsome and successful and the girl of his dreams is still single. So far so good and they add a hilarious character in an Ashlee Simpson type, played brilliantly by Anna Faris.

The script feels as though it needed another story spine apart from the central relationship and the character of the girl (Amy Smart) I just couldn't warm to: she didn't go out with Ryan Reynolds because he was fat and now he's rich and handsome she's interested in him, and I couldn't see any more depth to the character than that. I kept waiting for the writers to give her a "pat the dog" moment but they never did apart from the fact she is good with children. (By way of contrast, in There's Something About Mary, Cameron Diaz genuinely likes Ben Stiller at the beginning - it's Stiller's fault their date ends so disastrously; so he is an object worthy of affection.) 

Ryan Reynolds would have been better off with the Ashlee Simpson character, who seems to genuinely like him, has talent (of a kind) and pays for a trip to Paris. So what if she's a bit mad?

So the film didn't work for me, though the cast give their all, including a funny Chris Klein.