Bombshell + Bad Boys For Life
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BOMBSHELL MOVIE REVIEW
Leigh: Bombshell is based on the true story about the sexual harassment scandal at Fox News involving founder Roger Ailes and a number of women who worked for him. It stars Nicole Kidman as newsreader Gretchen Carlson, Charlize Theron as Megyn Kelly and Margot Robbie as Kayla, who is an amalgamation of different producers, as well as John Lithgow as Ailes.
Bombshell has an incredible supporting cast, with a stream of award-winning cameos. Mark Duplass stars as Megyn Kelly's husband and Kate McKinnon stars as a closet lesbian Democrat working at Fox – which is a big deal at Fox News.
Tim: Is she a closet Democrat as well?
Leigh: Absolutely. Connie Britton also stars as Roger Ailes’ wife and there’s Allison Janney, and then the list goes on…
Tim: I didn’t know Allison Janney was in it?
Leigh: She portrays Ailes’s lawyer. But she’s unrecognisable. You wouldn’t know it was her
Tim: Really?
Leigh: Yes, I’m surprised she hasn’t been nominated for some awards for this because it’s quite impressive. They’ve really gone all out in this movie to make everyone look as close to the real people as possible, which I think helps suspend that disbelief.
Tim: For sure. It’s really important when you have actors playing real people that they’re familiar as those people and not themselves.
Leigh: But what’s unfortunate is that they’ve done that so well and then they’ve put in a technique where the characters break the fourth wall and talk to the camera.
Tim: Tell us about that.
Leigh: There’s bits throughout where the women talk directly to the camera. You might hear their inner monologue while they’re being hit on, like, what goes through their mind or they’ll explain how things work at Fox News, but then break the fourth wall and make a sarcastic aside.
Tim: Is it effective?
Leigh: I think it’s too erratic in this instance and they’ve also inserted archival footage of the real people into the movie, but at odd intervals that really pull you out of it. This should be a really important movie, but it’s a little too superficial to hit hard enough.
It’s meant to be from the women’s perspective, which is great. But by the same token, it doesn’t dig deep enough into what the women are dealing with. You see the situations that they've been put in, the uncomfortable and horrific, in some cases, situations that they've been put into, but Bombshell doesn’t dig deep enough into them to really understand what’s going on – with the exception of Margot Robbie, who puts in an incredible performance in this. She just takes it to the next level with her performance.
The wider commentary here is about the need for women to support each other. That was my takeaway from the movie, that all these women were hesitant about coming forward because they would lose their job or they’d be harassed even further and ruin their lives coming forward. Roger Ailes was a very powerful man, incredibly powerful, and they make that clear in the movie that he will ruin them. This is considered to be the grassroots of the MeToo movement. Which, again, is not fully explored as well as it should be.
Tim: Do you think the lack of going into depth was an issue with the script or was the film too short?
Leigh: I think the script is good. It’s just that it doesn’t delve deep enough into the female characters and their motivation. It left me feeling a little cold. You need to be sympathetic to these women. They’ve been through something horrific, and it’s based on a true story, which makes it even more horrific. But then, and I feel awful for saying this, they just weren’t likable characters, which doesn't detract from their believability or what happened to them in anyway. It was just a real shame to say that there seemed to be a lot of backstabbing and throwing other women under the bus to save your own reputation.
I think that’s the most important takeaway from this film, that in these situations, women need to stick together. That’s a good thing that came out of it.
I just want to talk about Margo Robbie a little bit more. Even just based on the trailer, we knew that she was going to deliver an incredible performance. And, honestly, that’s an understatement.
Tim: I really, really can’t wait to see this.
Leigh: Her Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress is well deserved and I really want her to win.
I’m giving Bombshell three popcorn kernels. It’s a good movie and an important movie, but it did lack substance at times.
BAD BOYS FOR LIFE MOVIE REVIEW
Tim: Leigh and I got to see Bad Boys for Life. The third in the Bad Boys franchise reunites Will Smith and Martin Lawrence as Miami detectives Mike Lowery and Marcus Burnett. It’s been 17 years since Bad Boys 2and 25 years since the first in the mid-90s. There’s such a trend and, always has been, but certainly more now, towards studios revisiting established IP – even if it’s been 17 years. What did you think?
Leigh: I was very excited to see this film and I know we felt very differently about it.
Tim: Spoiler alert, but also no surprise, the story was awful. It’s directed by Belgian filmmakers Adil and Bilall, and this is their first mainstream movie, it’s worth noting. I will say, it was incredibly obvious it was their first film. It was meant to be this big budget film but didn’t feel like that to me. I felt it was a bit underwhelming and poorly paced. For the first half of the film, I was bored. With the script and the new directors, it was actually disappointing. Not that I was waiting for the camera to literally go 360 degrees and send me in a vertigo because Michael Bay wasn’t behind the lens. But it’s like these characters and these stories missed Michael Bay. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but it missed Michael Bay and missed that chaos.
Leigh: I would have said it was a good tribute to Michael Bay who directed the first two Bad Boys films. They did a few modern twists and turns that took it to a different place, but it felt like a Michael Bay film.
This time, Mike and Marcus are dealing with the prospect of middle age. And a shocking event, which we’re not going to reveal, sets them on the path for revenge and one of them into retirement. I liked the dynamics of that, because there’s always been that dynamic where Marcus wants to throw in the towel, but Mike is all about the police work. They’re taking it to a new level now and adding the fact that they’re at retirement age, but there were quite compelling reasons for the directions they went in. I like that and I’ve always really loved the chemistry between Will Smith and Martin Lawrence.
Tim: It’s undeniable, that’s what these movies have always been about: action and the chemistry.
Leigh: Which I think Bad Boys for Life pulled off in spades.
Tim: I want to see more of Martin Lawrence because I forgot how funny he is. He was just actually really fun. If the film didn’t have Martin Lawrence in it, I think it would have been a complete and utter disaster. He carried it for me.
Leigh: The twists and turns had me on the edge of my seat, for the most part. I will add a caveat though, that the third-act twist was bloody ridiculous…
Tim: I will agree the third act twist was utterly ridiculous.
Leigh: …but so Hollywood.
Tim: So Hollywood! This is how I judge a film. If I’m sitting there rolling my eyes in my seat, then you've lost me. And I did it. So Many times.
Leigh: Marcus had a really good line that I think sums it up pretty well: “This is some telenovela shit”.
Tim: I don’t know what was I expecting? I mean, it was a Bad Boys film. The first is pretty damn good, you know, but they’re not masterpieces. The thing that should draw you to check this out is certainly Martin Lawrence and the chemistry.
Leigh: If you’re a fan of the films, you’ll like it. How many kernels would you give this one?
Tim: I think I might just give it two.
Leigh: Wow, Tim really didn’t like it! Well, I’m going to go three-and-a-half.
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