Fast reviews for busy people! Watch as I review three movies in less time than it takes to make the bed! Have a look as I race against the clock to tell you about the absurd gravitas of “The Naked Gun,” the body horror rom com “Together” and the stylish kid’s flick “The Bad Guys 2.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
I join CTV Atlantic anchor Todd Battis to talk about the absurd gravitas of “The Naked Gun,” the body horror rom com “Together” and the stylish kid’s flick “The Bad Guys 2.”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
I joined CTV NewsChannel anchor Roger Peterson to have a look at new movies coming to theatres, including the stylish cartoon action of “The Bad Guys,” the absurd gravitas of “The Naked Gun”
Watch the whole thing HERE!
SYNOPSIS: “The Bad Guys 2,” the animated sequel to the 2022 hit “The Bad Guys,” reunites the above-the-title stars, Sam Rockwell, Marc Maron, Craig Robinson, Anthony Ramos, Awkwafina in a story about trying to do the right thing. “Things sure have changed,” says Bad Guys leader Mr. Wolf. “Not everyone believes it, but the Bad Guys went good.”
CAST: Sam Rockwell, Marc Maron, Craig Robinson, Anthony Ramos, Awkwafina, Zazie Beetz, Richard Ayoade, Lilly Singh, Alex Borstein, Danielle Brooks, Maria Bakalova, Natasha Lyonne. Directed by Pierre Perifel.
REVIEW: Based on the children’s book series “The Bad Guys” by Australian author Aaron Blabey, “The Bad Guys 2” the titular naughty characters, ringleader Mr. Wolf (Sam Rockwell), safecracker Mr. Snake (Marc Maron), hacker Ms. Tarantula (Awkwafina), master of disguise Mr. Shark (Craig Robinson) and the gang’s short-tempered “muscle” Mr. Piranha (Anthony Ramos), have gone straight.
Or at least they’re trying to.
Framed for a series of robberies they didn’t commit, they’re kidnapped by the Bad Girls, a band of baddies led by a devious snow leopard named Kitty Kat (Danielle Brooks), who blackmail them into one last heist. “Life is like is like a car chase,” says Mr. Wolf ((Sam Rockwell). “There will be bumps along the way.”
Like a riff on “Oceans 11” but for kids and with an outer space component, “The Bad Guys 2” has a groovy soundtrack that mostly sounds like it escaped from a mid-Sixties Matt Helm movie, stylish animation and the quick pacing of a kid’s adventure movie.
“It’s not the action, it’s the distraction,” says Mr. Wolf about the movie’s elaborate cons, but he may well have been speaking about the movie. There are big action sequences sprinkled throughout “The Bad Guys 2” but that is just the distraction from the clever character work from the voice cast.
Sam Rockwell voices Mr. Wolf with an appealing George Clooney swagger, so much so I’m surprised George isn’t asking for residuals, and the rest of the cast keeps up, delivering fun and funny characters that round out the cast. MVP Awards belong to Marc Maron for his lovestruck delivery of Mr. Snake and Richard Ayoade as the diabolical Professor Rupert Marmalade IV.
Unlike “Jason X,” the tenth installment of the Friday the 13th series which was buried by a trip to outer space, “The Bad Guys 2,” and (NO SPOILERS HERE) their trip to the cosmos plays pretty well although it goes on a bit too long, dragging out the film’s finale, without the sharp writing of everything that came before it.
Still, it’s a funny movie for the whole family about doing the right thing, even if it isn’t the easiest option, that has entertainment value for all ages.
“We may be bad,” says Wolf, in “The Bad Guys,” a new DreamWorks animated heist flick now playing in theatres, “but we are so good at it.”
Wolf, voiced by Sam Rockwell, leads a criminal organization of anthropomorphic animals, safecracker Snake (Marc Maron), master of disguise Shark (Craig Robinson), an apex predator of a thousand faces, Piranha (Anthony Ramos), a loose cannon with a short fuse and eight-legged tech wizard Tarantula (Awkwafina), who use their frightening reputations to strike fear into the hearts of their victims.
“Do I wish people didn’t see us as monsters?” asks Wolf. “Sure I do, but these are the cards we were dealt so we might as well play them.”
The gang is riding after a particularly daring bank robbery, but the wind is taken out of their sails when Governor Diane Foxington (Zazie Beetz) shames them during a press conference, calling them second rate hacks, driven by anger, not intelligence. “They have all the classic signs of a crew in decline,” she says.
Her televised insults push the Bad Guys to plan the ultimate heist, the theft of The Golden Dolfin, a priceless award given to philanthropists and do-gooders. This year it will be awarded to Professor Marmalade (Richard Ayoade), a hamster with a heart of gold.
When their heist goes sideways, the Professor Marmalade, from the goodness of his heart, makes a deal with the Bad Guys and the Governor. He will teach the reprobates to use the skills they developed being bad, to be good.
“Being good,” he says, “just feels so good and when you are good, you are loved.”
Question is, can these bad guys be rehabilitated, or is it time to take the “walking garbage” to the trash and lock them up forever?
Based on the New York Times best-selling graphic novel series by Australian author Aaron Blabey, “The Bad Guys” is kind of like “Ocean’s 11,” but for kids. The emotional undercurrents that Pixar weaves into their movies are missing, replaced with a snappy, stylish story that is more swagger than substance. The movie’s singular message—don’t judge a book by its cover—is a good one for kids, but it is hammered home with the subtly of a Don Rickles one liner. It’s a movie about not accepting stereotypes, that is ripe with stereotypes.
The animation is stylish, but not as sophisticated as we’ve come to expect from big screen offerings like this. Wolf’s fur is rudimentarily rendered and the overall look doesn’t have the zip of Pixar or other computer-generated films.
Having said all that, “The Bad Guys” succeeds through sheer strength of the characters and the humor in Etan Cohen and Hilary Winston’s witty script. There are silly characters kids will get a kick out of, like the flatulent piranha, coupled with jokes parents will appreciate.
Despite its shortcomings, in the end, “The Bad Guys” does good for the audience.
