Posts Tagged ‘Jon Hamm’

Transformers One

Director: Josh Cooley

Cast: Chris Hemsworth, Brian Tyree Henry, Scarlett Johansson, Steve Buscemi, Jon Hamm, Laurence Fishburne, Keegan-Michael Key

Running Time: 1 hour and 44 minutes

Film Rating: 7.5 out of 10

Please note this film is animated and created with CGI

A host of stars get some much needed voice work as voice overs in the new Transformers One film directed by Josh Cooley, which is a first fully CGI created animated feature film with dazzling visual effects and an entertaining origin story, which acts more like a prequel for the Transformers before they land on earth. The action takes place on Cybertron.

Chris Hemsworth, Oscar nominee Scarlett Johansson (Marriage Story, JoJo Rabbit) and Oscar nominee Brian Tyree Henry (Causeway) voice the three main lead bots – Orion Pax, Elita 1 and D-16. Orion Pax and D-16 are lowly miner bots in the Cybertron hierarchy and when they don’t follow protocol they land up on a heroic adventure along with the smart Elita 1 to discover what the seemingly benign Sentinel Prime expertly voiced by Jon Hamm is really up to.

As the trio leave Cybertron and go to the planet’s surface, they meet the talkative B127 voiced by the excellent Keegan-Michael Key (Wonka) and soon discover that Sentinel Prime is using the lowly non-transformative bots to do mining for a more sinister force.

As Orion Pax and his friends discover the truth about their world they encounter Alpha Trion, voiced by Oscar nominee Laurence Fishburne (What’s Love Got To Do With It) who gives them their transformation cog back allowing them to expertly transform into the multi-functional robots they are meant to be.

Soon Orion, Elita 1 and the gang confront the evil Sentinel Prime who has doubled the amount of mining on Cybertron and then much to Orion’s surprise his best friend transforms once his real power is restored.

Since live action versions of Transformers have all but been exhausted, it was a smart move to release an animated and completed computer generated version of Transformers One, a humorous and colourful origin story fit for a younger audience which will entice them to watch the earlier films.

Its 17 years since the first live action Transformers film was released back in 2007 which launched the careers of Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox and Josh Duhamel and there is still lot in this Hasbro toy inspired franchise to explore and develop.

While it was fascinating to watch the superb animation, which this film deserves to be recognized for, it is equally interesting to identify the different voices of the famous cast members.

The visual effects and production design of Transformers One is amazing and as animated film, this serves as a worthy addition to stand deservedly alongside the multiple Live action versions.

Transformers One is entertaining, humorous and filled with moral lessons about leadership, corruption and deception.

Take the kids to watch Transformers One and discover the origin story of the rise of Optimus Prime. Transformers One gets a film rating of 7.5 out of 10 and is recommended viewing. The talented voice cast expertly compliment the incredible visuals on screen.

Mean Girls

Director: Samantha Jayne & Arturo Perez Jr

Cast: Angourie Rice, Renee Rapp, Tina Fey, Jaquel Spivey, Lindsay Lohan, Christopher Briney, Bebe Wood, Jon Hamm, Avantika, Auli’I Cravalho, Busy Philipps, Jenna Fischer, Tim Meadows, Ashley Park, Mahi Alam

Running Time: 1 hour 52 minutes

Film Rating: 7 out of 10

Never mind Barbie, watch Mean Girls, it’s hilarious and fabulous. Directing duo Samantha Jayne and Arturo Perez Jr, artfully recreated the Mean Girls musical with a witty script by comedian and actress Tina Fey in the new 2024 reboot of the original 2004 film, Mean Girls which starred Lindsay Lohan, Rachel McAdams and Lizzy Caplan.

Angourie Rice (Spider Man: No Way Home, The Beguiled, The Nice Guys) is brilliant as naïve but manipulative teenage girl Cady Heron who arrives at North Point High School in Chicago after being home schooled by her mother on the Kenyan plains. Cady has to navigate the treacherous backstabbing world of teenage popularity and acceptance as she first befriends Janis and Damian, wonderfully played by Auli’I Cravalho and Jaquel Spivey. Janis is exploring her sexuality while Damian is just too gay to function. Into the fray at the cafeteria, the original mean girl makes her grand entrance, Regina George, blonde haired with ample bosom and a matching attitude. Regina is the IT girl with her minions and has had countless boyfriends and rules the social world of teenage awkwardness with a glittering plasticity.

Superbly played by Renee Rapp, Regina George is the ultimate teen queen, the most popular girl in high school who attracts the attention of Cady Heron who also has her eye on the gorgeous boy sitting in front of her in calculus: Aaron Samuels played by Christopher Briney.

Mean Girls is part comedy and part musical, with lots of social media drenched dance numbers and some extremely funny moments including the drama at the Winter Musical and the increasingly hilarious missteps that Cady does to try and fit in, including having house parties, trying to kiss Aaron Samuels and arriving at a Halloween party as a blood drenched bride of Dracula, looking hideous.

Tina Fey’s script is brilliant, witty and toxic, but filled with some moral lessons about treating fellow girls properly and basically not being a competitive back stabber. Even the burn book gets a treatment and all hell breaks loose until Regina gets hit by a bus! Jaquel Spivey as the very camp Damian is over the top but absolutely necessary to the script and provides some hilarious laughs.

Mean Girls is raucous and gossipy, hilarious and frivolous but ultimately a funny film filled with lots of feel good musical numbers about teenagers trying to get a grip on their new world both socially and sexually, carving their own path away from any parental guidance and capturing the current media crazed Tik Tok, SnapChat phenomenon.

The screen tension between Renee Rapp and Angourie Rice is brittle and toxic, just the way it is meant to be when the new bright girl takes on The Plastics. Audiences should watch out for appearances by Lindsay Lohan as Mathletes Moderator, Jon Hamm as Coach Carr and Tim Meadows as the exasperated Mr Duvall, the high school principal.

Aimed at teenage girls and definitely their mothers, Mean Girls honours the original film while updating the social media entrenched social politics of 21^st century young adulthood in this new glittering and hyper-stylized version for the 2020’s.

Mean Girls gets a film rating of 7 out of 10 and is recommended for those that enjoyed the original film and also provides a glitzy showcase for the next generation of rising film stars. Recommended viewing for those that enjoy teen comedies.

Top Gun: Maverick

Director: Joseph Kosinki

Cast: Tom Cruise, Jennifer Connelly, Miles Teller, Jon Hamm, Glen Powell, Lewis Pullman, Val Kilmer, Ed Harris, Monica Barbaro 

Running Time: 2 hours and 11 minutes

Film Rating: 8.5 out of 10

Only the Brave and Oblivion director Joseph Kosinski does a sterling job directing the highly anticipated long awaited sequel to the 1986 smash hit Top Gun directed by the late British director Tony Scott. Fortunately, superstar Tom Cruise reprises his role as test pilot Pete “Maverick” Mitchell as he returns to the San Diego Airforce base to train a new set of elite air force pilots including Lt. Bradley “Rooster” Bradshaw the son of the original Rooster and Maverick’s wingman in the 1986 film.

This time the younger Rooster is played superbly by prolific actor Miles Teller of Whiplash fame as he tries to prove himself as a test fighter pilot while reconciling his father’s legacy and his grudge against Maverick, the less than orthodox fighter pilot instructor.

Following a glittering and highly successful film premiere at the 2022 Festival du Cannes, in which Tom Cruise and co-stars showed off Top Gun: Maverick to the Cinema world and now on world wide release, Top Gun: Maverick as a 2022 cinematic spectacle does not disappoint as the screenwriters skillfully weave elements of the original Top Gun film into this stunning adrenalin fueled film filled with bravado, awe-inspiring aviation stunts and a group of muscular and strong test pilots all vying to be the best. Watch out for the infamous beach scene.

Pete Mitchell’s only concern in teaching his new group of recruits besides building team spirit is to make sure every member of the team comes home from their nefarious mission against an omniscient and unmentionable enemy alive and kicking. Maverick, which is his call sign, tells all of the young aspiring pilots, don’t think, just do it because time is the enemy.

Throughout the story of Top Gun: Maverick there are hints to the original film which was a 1980’s smash hit blockbuster and launched Tom Cruise as a superstar.

Complete with glossy shots of Maverick riding a motorbike into the Californian sun or assisting his love interest Penny wonderfully played by Oscar winner Jennifer Connelly (A Beautiful Mind) steering a huge yacht off the coast of San Diego, Top Gun: Maverick works as a glossy and sleek homage to the 1980’s action film and a tribute to military aviation, which does not disappoint. In fact it glows in admiration at the courage and spectacle of fighter jets doing dog fights across icy landscapes.

As a film and a fitting sequel to the original, Top Gun: Maverick excels on every level and shines through as Tom Cruise’s passion project a film that he had to get made right and with the correct co-stars.

All the supporting cast of Top Gun: Maverick are superb including Oscar nominee Ed Harris (Pollock) as Chester Cain, Jon Hamm as Admiral Beau “Cyclone” Simpson, actor Bill Pullman’s son Lewis Pullman as Lt Robert “Bob” Floyd and of course the other alpha male of the squadron Glen Powell as Lt Jake “Hangerman” Seresin.

Audiences should watch the original film first, however Top Gun: Maverick is equally thrilling providing a stand alone big screen spectacle of flying, action and tension seldom seen in 21^st century cinema.

Saturated with golden Californian sunshine and a huge dash of nostalgia, Top Gun: Maverick is a brilliant aviation film and will certainly keep audiences engaged especially in the last section of the film as Maverick and the young Rooster land in enemy territory.

As an adrenalin fuelled fighter jet action film, Top Gun: Maverick gets a film rating of 8.5 out of 10 and is highly recommended viewing only to be appreciated on the big screen.  

Baby Driver

Director: Edgar Wright

Cast: Lily James, Ansel Elgort, Kevin Spacey, Jon Hamm, Jamie Foxx, Jon Bernthal

While the trailer is cool and the cast is hip, Baby Driver delivers some cool stunts as a sequential car chase film with its sweet looking leads Baby played by Ansel Elgort and Debora played by rising British star Lily James.

With a fabulous soundtrack, Edgar Wright’s crime caper Baby Driver, clearly inspired by Pulp Fiction is thrilling to watch, with a great fast-paced narrative, transplanting the action from Los Angeles to Atlanta, Georgia it does get weigh down by its own super-cool importance and could have been edited by at least 20 minutes.

Oscar winner Kevin Spacey (The Usual Suspects, American Beauty) plays crime boss Doc who hires Baby played by Ansel Elgort as a bank robbery get a way driver because of his fast skills behind the wheel. That and the fact that Baby doesn’t get fazed by the traffic, the cops or his fellow henchman. Baby starts re-evaluating his crime driving does when he meets the sweet Southern diner waitress Debora played by Lily James (Cinderella, Wrath of the Titans).

Soon Baby wants out but has to contend with a new and vicious crew headed by the psychopathic Bats wonderfully played by Oscar winner Jamie Foxx (Ray) and equally threatened by the crazy gun-wielding Buddy played by Mad Men star Jon Hamm (The Town, Million Dollar Arm).

Audiences should expect lots of car chases, a really cool soundtrack and a crime caper with as many twists and turns as a Southern freeway. Despite the hype surrounding Baby Driver and its ode to all things Americana – The Cars, The Diner, the Freeway, director Edgar Wright places too much emphasis on trying to encode the narrative with a moral undertone which doesn’t quite work especially towards the end of the film.

Basically, despite all the violence, money grabbing and loads of action, the end result is crime doesn’t pay – which is ultimately a bizarre sentiment to portray in a film such as Baby Driver which glorifies crime, violence and greed, making all three look hip, cool and attainable especially in a fast car.

Baby Driver is a stylish and entertaining ride, but don’t expect the cinematic journey to live up to the hype. Nevertheless its still a fun way to spend an afternoon at the movies.

For the young and the fast, Baby Driver gets a film rating of 7.5 out of 10 and recommended for audiences that enjoyed Pulp Fiction and all sorts of sleazy, pulpy crime thrillers which the Americans are so fond of making. The irony is that director Edgar Wright is British…

The music is the best thing in this action flick!

Absolutely Fabulous

Director: Mandie Fletcher

Cast: Jennifer Saunders, Joanna Lumley, Jane Horrocks, June Whitfield, Julia Sawahla, Gwendoline Christie, Kathy Burke, Celia Imrie, Robert Webb, Chris Colfer, Lily Cole, Kate Moss, Joan Collins, Jon Hamm, Rebel Wilson

Living the dream is the best revenge sweetie darlings especially when you apparently kill supermodel and party waif Kate Moss. Yes Patsy and Edina are back!

Its director Mandie Fletcher’s full screen film version of the hit BBC TV series Absolutely Fabulous featuring the notorious Patsy superbly played by Joanna Lumley (The Wolf of Wall Street) and Edina based on a hilarious screenplay by Jennifer Saunders who plays her in the film.

Absolutely Fabulous is hilarious, making lots of smart references to current and past British pop culture from celebrities (look out for guest appearances by Graham Norton, Suki Waterhouse), to Technology to Fashion. Set in London, Patsy and Edina find themselves fresh out of Bolly (Champagne, darlings) and realize that their credit cards have been cut up, an oblique reference to the global recession, so naturally they have to go out and earn a living.

Edina has written a book and Patsy is still apparently running a Fashion house although it’s actually the foul-mouthed and handbag flinging Magda, a brilliant and vicious cameo by veteran actress Kathy Burke, who is really calling the shots.

At a bizarre and incredibly oversubscribed launch party for some new Fashion House, Edina accidentally bumps Kate Moss into the icy Thames River and arch PR rival Claudia Bing, garishly played by Celia Imrie, lays the blame for the supermodels apparent demise on Edina and of course Patsy – it’s guilty by association, sweetie darlings! Audiences should look out for cameos by Jon Hamm (Mad Men), Rebel Wilson (Pitch Perfect) and Joan Collins of Dynasty fame.

The London fashion world plunges into a media frenzy as everyone darlings, including the gay boys and Gwendoline Christie go into mourning. Edina is vilified on Twitter, she even complains to her straight laced daughter Saffy, wonderfully played by Julia Sawahla, that she is a pariah.

Saffy asks “Do you know what a pariah is mother?” Edina answers: “Yes darling it’s a fish”.

Even designer Stella McCartney throws a brick threw their Holland Park window, and then Patsy and Edina realize after much vodka and drugs, that its best to go on the run. To where sweetie darlings?

Cannes, on the French Riviera where everyone is a foreign yet glamourous criminal. Naturally darlings! The second half of Absolutely Fabulous is hilarious. Soon the French police track the infamous pair down to a villa belonging to the wealthiest dowager on the Riviera.

Meanwhile back in London, French designer Jean-Paul Gautier is strolling by the Thames and who should emerge from the river, still looking gorgeous, Sauvignon Blanc in one hand and cigarette in the other?

Whilst Patsy and Edina constantly lose the plot, so does the film version of Absolutely Fabulous, but nevertheless it is still a hilarious fun-filled romp, paying homage to the successful and long running TV show which became a massive BBC hit.

Absolutely Fabulous is not everyone’s glass of Bolly darlings.

Like similar transformations of 30 minute hit TV series into 90 minute films namely Entourage and Sex and the City, Absolutely Fabulous, the movie will only really appeal to those that faithfully followed the TV series and are naturally knowledgeable about current British pop culture. Nevertheless, sweetie darlings, it’s still light hearted and bloody good fun!

Million Dollar Arm

Director: Craig Gillespie

Cast: Jon Hamm, Alan Arkin, Suraj Sharma, Bill Paxton, Lake Bell, Aashif Mandvi, Maddhur Mittal

Disney’s take on baseball meets Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire comes in the form of the charming sports film, Million Dollar Arm featuring Mad Men’s Jon Hamm teaming up with Life of Pi’s Suraj Sharma and Alan Arkin from Argo.

Set in India and Los Angeles, director Craig Gillespie’s Million Dollar Arm premiering at the Durban International Film Festival 2014 – http://www.durbanfilmfest.co.za/ tells the true story of a down on his luck sports agents J. Bernstein, played by Hamm who while channel surfing flicking between Britain’s Got Talent and cricket in India on late night TV, comes up with an epiphany to travel to India to find the next big baseball player.

The only problem is that in India, once the jewel of the British colonial empire, the main sport is cricket as it in the rest of the Commonwealth and the general male population there do not play baseball. With the help of a shady Chinese business investor Chang played by Tzi Ma, J. B. Bernstein travels to chaotic Mumbai to discover a world so alien and different to his lavish and ordered Californian lifestyle, one in which he was a once successful sports agent.

Spurred on by his tenant, Brenda played by Lake Bell, J. B. Bernstein travels the length and breadth of India in search of a cricket player with a million dollar arm. He is helped by a retired baseball talent spotter Ray wonderfully underplayed by Alan Arkin (Little Miss Sunshine) who discover two young men Rinky and Dinesh, played by Suraj Sharma and Maddhur Mittal respectively who each possess a million dollar arm, or an above average ball throwing speed.

Part of the enticement for these two young players is the opportunity of traveling to the United States and play a game that they have never played before. Leaving the rural confines of Lucknow, India, they are suddenly transplanted in University of Southern California’s baseball fields where they are coached by the cautious yet optimistic coach Tom House played by Bill Paxton.

Naturally as a Disney film, director Gillespie in Million Dollar Arm aims for a general feel good sports film while making insightful observations about the massive cultural differences between India and America and highlighting each society’s similarities.

Jon Hamm is excellent as the exasperated JB Bernstein supported by a great cast especially Oscar winner Arkin and the always amiable Lake Bell, along with Aashif Mandvi as Aash while Suraj Sharma and Maddhur Mittal make the most of their roles as young Indian boys caught up in an essentially American sporting dilemma. Watch out for a superb musical score by A. R. Rahman (Slumdog Millionaire).

Unlike the very specific baseball films Moneyball or Field of Dreams, Million Dollar Arm is enjoyable family viewing and will appeal to sporting enthusiasts both in America and the commonwealth highlighting Hollywood’s increasing desire to deliver more international fare. A thought provoking and fascinating film about the increasing globalization of sport and the desire for all people to achieve seemingly impossible dreams. Like Indian hockey players trying out for the American National Baseball league. Recommended viewing especially as it is a true story.