Watch the whole thing HERE!
Watch the whole thing HERE!
Listen to the whole thing HERE!
CAST: Will Forte, Lana Condor, Tone Bell, Luis Guzmán, Martha Kelly, P.J. Byrne, John Cena. Eric Bauza, Kenneth Choi, Candi Milo, Jim Cummings. Directed by Dave Green.
REVIEW: Shot years ago and shelved as a tax write off by Warner Bros. Discovery in 2023, “Coyote vs. ACME” is finally getting its richly deserved chance at a big screen release courtesy of Ketchup Entertainment.
Anyone familiar with Wile E. Coyote’s endless pursuit of the Road Runner, will also know of his unsuccessful use of rocket-powered roller skates, anvils, dehydrated boulders and many other tools of destruction manufactured by ACME.
After years of unsuccessfully using their products Wile E. Coyote has had enough. Holding a placard reading “ACME SUCKS,” he hires down-on-his-luck attorney Kevin Avery (Will Forte) to sue ACME Corporation for selling defective gadgets. “ACME has knowingly been making dangerous products for decades!”
As ACME’s lawyer, the ruthless Buddy Crane (John Cena), prepares to go scorched earth on Avery—“I don’t just want him scared, I want him ruined!”—the case reveals ACME as a profit-obsessed conglomerate with no regard for the safety of its customers. “Wile E. Coyote,” says Crane, “is reckless and all his injuries are self-inflicted.”
A mix of live action and animation, à la “Who Framed Roger Rabbit,” “Coyote vs. ACME” blends a high-level comedic cast, led by Will Forte, and classic cartoon characters in a rambunctious comedy that captures the anarchic spirit of Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies films.
It’s a love letter to the cartoons that inspired it, but it’s not simply a rehash of decades old animated movies. Instead, it takes well-known characters, like Wile E. Coyote, the Roadrunner, Elmer Fudd, Daffy Duck and many others (mostly voiced by Canadian actor Eric Bauza), and creates a new world for them to inhabit without losing what made them fun in the first place.
Wile, for instance, is taking on ACME, an even bigger foe than The Roadrunner, but just like in the old shorts, he refuses to give up no matter what. His perseverance against Sisyphean odds is the thing that makes him lovable, and when echoed in Avery’s rediscovery of what the law can do for his client, brings a nice symmetry to the storytelling. “He’s one of the most hard-working people I’ve ever met,” Avery says of Wile. “He would never think of quitting. And I think everyone should be inspired by that.”
Fans will uncover Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies tributes throughout. “That’s all folks,” written in dust on the back of Avery’s car, is a throwback reframed as a veiled threat from opposing council. The non-consensualist Pepé Le Pew is blasted with anti-predator spray, and Foghorn Leghorn as ACME CEO.
Hard core fans will note that Forte’s character, Kevin Avery shares a last name with Tex Avery , director and co-creator of the Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies style.
“Coyote vs. ACME” is a lot of fun, creating something new from the nostalgia fans feel for these characters and their trademarked brand of comedic chaos. It hits the anvil on the head (or should that be the other way around?) with impossible cartoon physics, humor—Forte and Cena are live action but have a fun cartoon vibe—heart and even some unexpected anti-corporate messaging.
SYNOPSIS: In “The Yeti,” a new low budget monster movie now on VOD, a rescue team sets out to find an oil tycoon and a famous adventurer whovanished in Yeti territory.
CAST: Brittany Allen, Eric Nelsen, Jim Cummings, William Sadler, Corbin Bernsen. Directed and written by Gene Gallerano and William Pisciotta.
REVIEW: A return to “a guy in a furry suit” monster movies, “The Yeti” is a lo fi survival flick with practical effects that harken back to the heyday of drive-in creature feature nights.
First-time directors Gene Gallerano and William Pisciotta clearly have a love for the direct-to-video/DVD genre. They were the movies you rented when you had either seen everything else at least twice, or you wanted something to watch with a few beers, or something stronger.
Populated with fading and/or emerging stars, they were generally formulaic, genre driven grindhouse style movies that generally made up in fun what they lacked in production value.
Such is the case with “The Yeti.”
The marquee comes decorated with names like “L.A. Law” star Corben Bernsen and genre favorite William Sadler, in addition to an eager cast of players, including the entertainingly named Elizabeth Cappuccino.
The story itself is pure b-movie hokum.
Set in 1947, it picks up after a famed adventurer (Sadler) and an oil tycoon (Bernsen) vanished without a trace in the wilds of Alaska. Curious to know their father’s fates, the missing men’s kids (Brittany Allen and Eric Nelsen) assemble a ragtag team, with nicknames like Watchdog—“Watchdog doesn’t fetch… he hunts.”—Doctor, Radio and Demolition, to bundle up and travel to snowy Alaska to retrace their father’s footsteps. The worst part of the adventure? It’s not the unforgiving weather or the isolation. It’s the ferocious Yeti, a giant, hairy beast, the result, we’re told, of “20,000 years of primal evolution.”
This trip to Yeti territory is actually a journey down memory lane to a time when movie monsters lurked in the shadows to create suspense and disguise any shortcomings in the creature’s makeup. In this case the Yeti, a kind of man-shaped polar bear, is more fun than terrifying, but Gallerano and Pisciotta take their time, working up to the Yeti’s bloody on-screen debut, building tension up to the reveal. That the practical effects bring more of an organic feel to “The Yeti” than actual scares is OK because they are delivered with old-school b-movie exuberance and buckets of blood.
Equal parts discomforting and funny, “The Beta Test,” a new dark comedy now on VOD, is a film industry satire that is unafraid to make the viewer squirm.
Remember Ari Gold, the motor-mouthed Hollywood agent played by Jeremy Piven on “Entourage”? On a scale of 1 – 10, 10 being the most abrasive, he was a 9.
“The Beta Test’s” Jordan Hines (Jim Cummings) is an 11. He’s a somewhat successful agent who makes money repacking already existing intellectual properties like “Caddyshack”—but this time with dogs. He’s a walking deal memo with an attitude, a temper and a secret.
Weeks before his marriage to Caroline (Virginia Newcomb), Jordan receives a mysterious note. Designed to look like a wedding invitation, it invites him to a no-strings attached, anonymous sexual encounter that will cater to his kinks. Curious, he accepts, and spends an afternoon, blindfolded, indulging in his wildest fantasies.
Satisfied, he craves another tryst. But there is a complication. Others who accepted the same invitation are ending up dead at the hands of their significant others. Perplexed and afraid, Jordan launches an investigation into the source of the invite as his personal and professional lives fall apart.
“The Beta Test” isn’t really about the mystery. The identity of the invite senders isn’t the point of this movie, it’s the McGuffin that keeps the action moving along. Instead, this is a piercing look at the emptiness of the film business and the folks who decide what entertainment we get to see.
As Jordan, Cummings is one step away from being feral. He’s the twitchy, uncomfortable center of the story. Unable to be truly happy, he’s self-aware enough to recognize his unhappiness, but his worldview won’t allow him to admit that to anyone, particularly his clients. He’s all surface; the kind of guy who buys a painting he can’t afford to impress people. That soullessness lies at the heart of “The Beta Test.” It’s a brutal attack on the Jordan Hineses of the world that lampoons the Hollywood A-type architype in a way that makes “Entourage’s” portrayal of Ari Gold seem tame by comparison.
“The Beta Test’s” study of toxic masculinity and fragility isn’t without its bumps, but the overarching message is surprisingly simple and gentle for such a ferocious movie. “Everybody just wants to be famous, but for what? Be happy with what you’ve got.”
“Don’t go getting all grown up on us.“ That’s the sentiment that hangs over “Christopher Robin,” a new film about regaining an intangible starring Ewan McGregor and Winnie the Pooh (voice of Jim Cummings), like a shroud.
The movie begins with 10-year-old Christopher Robin‘s going away party, just before he leaves for boarding school. His playmates, Piglet (voice of Nick Mohammed), Eeyore (Brad Garrett), Tigger (Cummings again), Owl (Toby Jones), Rabbit (Peter Capaldi), Kanga (Sophie Okonedo) and the honey loving bear have gathered to see him off from 100 Acre Woods, their home and Christopher’s escape from real life.
“I will never forget you Pooh,“ Christopher says, “even if I live to be 100 years old.“
But of course he does.
Like the quickly flipped pages of a story park the film rockets through Christopher’s boarding school, marriage, efforts in WWII and his difficulties after the war. Now a husband to Evelyn (Hayley Atwell) and a father to Madeline (Bronte Carmichael), he has a job he doesn’t like and responsibilities that keep him away from his family.
Christopher Robin got all grown up.
When his boss instructs him to cut 20% of his operating budget Christopher is pushed against the wall. The frivolities of youth are pushed even further to the background until Pooh, looking for his friends and in search of honey, shows up in London with the grumbling tummy and some sage words of advice. “I’ve cracked,” says Christopher when his childhood friend shows up. “I’ve totally cracked. “I don’t see any cracks,” replies Pooh sweetly, “some wrinkles maybe.”
A mix of live action and CGI characters, “Christopher Robin” doesn’t allow the special effects to get in the way of the film’s message of staying young at heart. The stuffed animals—Winnie and friends—don’t feel like and excuse to sell toys. Instead they are given distinct and engaging personalities that move the story and the message forward. Cummings, who has voiced Winnie since 1988, brings real personality to the character, imbuing his elliptical speaking patterns with equal parts humour and melancholy. Pooh also causes some Paddington-style chaos in the Robin household, adding to the slapstick factor in a movie that toggles between heartfelt and farce.
There is an undeniable sense of loss and longing in “Christopher Robin.” Loss, in the form of a childhood innocence gone missing—“I’m lost,” says Pooh, “but I found you.”—longing in the efforts made to regain the connection to childlike wonder and, in Robin’s case, his own daughter Madeline. Children might not get it, although I’m sure they will enjoy the stuffed characters, but adults will understand the curious tale about the importance of old friends and embracing the inner child.
