The Super Mario Brothers Movie and Air are the two movies that the Tameside Radio presenter and film guru has been to see at the cinema this week....
A double bill on Tuesday at the cinema started with the superb Air, which is a factual film based on the origin story of the Nike Air Jordan trainer. It's great to see Ben Affleck and Matt Damon reunited on the big screen, and the addition of Jason Bateman and Viola Davis is an added bonus. The script is tight, the characters are likeable, and it's a really entertaining way to spend a couple of hours.
Whilst we don't see Michael Jordan, on who the whole tale is based, VIola Davis is cracking as his proud mother. Most of the scenes take place in the offices of the footwear giant, and there are shades of Tom Cruise's 'show me the money' in Chris Messina's opportunistic agent David Falk.
The opening sequence, packed full of 80s cultural references, was a proper blast from the past, and the soundtrack is stuffed full of well chosen songs from the likes of Squeeze, Reo Speedwagon and Dire Straits. The script is pacy, there are plenty of laughs along the way, and we can marvel at the ludicrous hairstyles and fashion choices of the era. Even if you weren't around in the 80s, you'll love this film.
The Super Mario Brothers Movie has oodles of A-list voice talent, and is more colourful than a sweet shop, but is a short-lived sugar rush. I liked Seth Rogen as Donkey Kong, and Jack Black also does a decent job of bringing panto baddie humour to Bowser, but this was average at best. I liked it, but I didn't love it. It did bring back nostalgic memories of playing old consoles in the 90s, with loads of the sound effects and music from that time.
I just wonder if the story could have been a bit more adventurous. Perhaps the script disappeared down a pipe into the sewers below Brooklyn, or was eaten by one of the fire flowers. A highlight was the ampitheatre fight scene between Mario and Donkey Kong. Nice to hear Take On Me by A-ha in the soundtrack too!
Since both of this week's cinema offerings have their roots in the 80s, I revisited The Thing (1982) on Blu-Ray, and found it's aged incredibly well. Considering the special effects are over four decades old, John Carpenter achieved a lot with his dark, imaginative tale of an alien that can morph into human bodies and take them over. Chilling and original, and rightly revered as a classic of its genre. Paranoia takes over in the snowy setting, as no-one knows who has been infected before it's too late.
And Mindcage is a new addition on Amazon Prime Video, and in spite of the presence of John Malkovich as a serial killer on death row, is a bit of an unholy mess. When a copycat begins a fresh killing spree, police demand answers from 'The Artist', whose modus operandi was to make his killings look like a work of art. It felt a bit like Martin Lawrence and Melissa Roxburgh were phoning in their performances, and it was all a tad hammy and ridiculous.
