Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018)

The sequel to the 2012 hit Wreck-It Ralph, this film takes Ralph and Vanellope on a whole-new adventure into the Internet itself.

Ever since the end of Wreck-It Ralph, Ralph (John C. Reilly) and Vanellope (Sarah Silverman) have spent every night together (after the arcade closes). Ralph is thrilled to finally have a friend, someone to make his monotonous life inside the game a little more exciting.

But Vanellope is tired of doing the same thing every day, driving around the same tracks day after day, and living a life with no surprises.

Ralph (John C. Reilly) and Vanellope (Sarah Silverman).

Ralph tries to surprise her by 'building' a new track in her game, but things don't go entirely as planned, and the steering wheel - on the actual arcade machine - breaks off.

The arcade owner, Mr. Litwak (Ed O'Neill) turns off the machine, hoping to sell it for spare parts by the end of the week. There is a replacement steering wheel available on Ebay, but it's just a little out of his price range, especially at short notice.

Hearing this, Ralph decides to fix his mistake by venturing into the Internet - newly installed in the arcade - to find Ebay, find the replacement steering wheel, and make everything okay again.

Of course, Vanellope goes with him. It isn't long before Ralph has caused more problems than he's fixed, and his actions even threaten to bring down the entire Internet - from the inside.

Shank (Gal Gadot).

The screenplay, by Phil Johnston & Pamela Ribon, is very clever, with plenty of in-jokes and pop-culture references that will appeal to older viewers, and plenty of recognisable characters and situations that will appeal to younger viewers (and probably older viewers, too). The characters have plenty of internal and external conflicts to deal with, and there are some very good messages just under the surface, that can and will lead to plenty of opportunities for discussions about self-esteem, friendship, value and love.

Henry Jackman's score is well-suited to the film, and matches the on-screen action perfectly. As this is an animated film, the music tends to reflect merely the physical actions on-screen, but it works well nonetheless.

The performances of the voice cast are wonderful, and all of your favourite characters from the first movie are back again. Reilly and Silverman have great on-screen chemistry, and they convey incredible emotional range through nothing more than the use of their voice.

There are some new characters joining the cast for this film, too. A couple of notable additions are Gal Gadot as a driver from an Internet-based game (picture something like Grand Theft Auto, but at a much higher speed) and Alan Tudyk as the search assistant KnowsMore.

All the greatest Disney princesses lend a hand to help Ralph and Vanellope.

If you're into Disney films at all, there is plenty to love about this film, with so many on-screen references and Disney-themed in-jokes, it is impossible to notice them all even after multiple viewings, giving you plenty to enjoy and experience for years to come.

Directors Phil Johnston & Rich Moore have made a thoroughly enjoyable film, that I will most certainly be watching many more times (hoping to spot as many of these Disney-themed Easter eggs as I can). If you enjoyed the first one, you should definitely check this out. If you haven't seen the first one, watch that first, and then you should definitely check this out.

9 out of 10.

What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993)

A beautiful film that shows the strength of the bonds of family.

Gilbert Grape (Johnny Depp) has a pretty rough life. Living in a small town in the middle of nowhere, Iowa, most of his day is taken up with working in the local grocery store, as well as looking after his younger, profoundly disabled, brother Arnie (Leonardo DiCaprio).

Sure, he has help from sisters Amy (Laura Harrington) and Ellen (Mary Kate Schellhardt), and the love and support of their mother Bonnie (Darlene Cates). But given that his mother hasn’t left the house since their father died many years earlier, and has become more and more overweight to the point that she doesn’t even leave the couch, she isn’t as much help as he would like.

Add to this existence a sordid affair with married woman Betty Carver (Mary Steenburgen) and being a friend to handyman Tucker (John C. Reilly), and it seems that his life couldn’t get any more difficult.

And Arnie is incredibly difficult to care for. His eighteenth birthday is fast approaching, and yet he is unable to do virtually anything for himself.

It isn’t until new girl Becky (Juliette Lewis) and her grandmother come to town - after their camper breaks down just outside the city limits - that Gilbert’s life starts to look like it may have some good in it after all.

The screenplay - written by Peter Hedges and based on his own novel - is very good. The characters are all clearly defined and all have a very rich history with one another and with the town. The pacing of the film is just right, and nothing feels as though it doesn’t absolutely need to be there.

Sven Nykvist’s cinematography is incredible, with beautiful sweeping shots of the scenery throughout, and unique shots and camera angles abound. The whole film - despite some of these wide shots of the Iowa landscape - feels incredibly intimate, and the viewer feels very much a part of the action, with plenty of close shots and moving camera.

Björn Isfält’s music is used very sparingly, and to great effect. There is a theme - or leitmotif - that is used several times throughout the film, any time that Gilbert and Arnie are sharing a particularly tender moment. The theme varies in its instrumentation each time, but it is nevertheless the same, and serves to ground the entire story around these two brothers, whose love for one another is one of the strongest central themes of the film.

The performances of the entire cast are absolutely incredible, in particular Depp and DiCaprio. DiCaprio was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, and with very good reason. Sadly, he missed out on the award, as it was given instead to Tommy Lee Jones for The Fugitive, which I believe was a mistake; this performance was far superior. He did, however, win a Golden Globe for his portrayal, which is so incredibly realistic, but also is pulled off without the slightest hint of caricature or mockery.

Another standout performance is that of Darlene Cates, playing the mother to this family. Her love for all her children, but particularly Arnie, is shown so strongly at various moments (I won’t go into detail, I’ll let you discover those for yourself if you haven’t already seen this film) that it brings tears to your eyes.

In fact, I must confess I spent most of the film in tears; the performances of the entire cast are just so realistic and heartfelt, and the script is just so damn good.

Lasse Hallström - who I must admit I only knew previously from the film Chocolat, though he has directed many other great movies - has made an amazing film here, a film that should have received many more awards and accolades than it did. I for one know I will be watching this many more times, and I would advise you to do the same.

9 out of 10.

Stan & Ollie (2018)

The true story of a part of Laurel and Hardy’s career that hasn’t been widely publicised until now, this film brings two of the greatest comedy personalities of the 20th century to life.

Stan Laurel (Steve Coogan) and Oliver Hardy (John C. Reilly) are making their last film together in Hollywood. Laurel’s contract is about to expire, though Hardy’s is continuing. Laurel tries to get his contract renewed, but for more money this time, and is unsuccessful, so the two of them part ways for a time.

Fast forward seventeen years, and Laurel is trying to reunite them for a new career. Trying to write a script for a Robin Hood film for the two of them to do together, they go on a tour of the United Kingdom to raise funds and give audiences something to enjoy again.

Meeting theatre promoter Bernard Delfont (Rufus Jones), they are slightly disappointed that he has them performing mostly in smaller theatres to even smaller audiences, but it isn’t long before word gets out that Laurel and Hardy are back together, and soon, they are performing to sellout crowds across the UK.

Their wives, Ida Laurel (Nina Arianda) and Lucille Hardy (Shirley Henderson), meet up with them before one of their London shows, and join them on the remainder of their tour.

While this film does contain a lot of really great classic comedy, from the minds of one of the greatest comedy duos of the last 100 years, there isn’t much more to recommend about this film, sadly.

The script (by Jeff Pope) is filled with largely expository dialogue, which feels incredibly stilted and forced, not natural at all. I realise that there is a lot of information that needs to be crammed into quite a short running time (barely ninety minutes in length), but I feel it could have been handled a little better.

But the most noticeable flaw of this film is Steve Coogan’s accent. Knowing that Laurel and Hardy were Americans, it is most unsettling to hear Laurel delivering almost all his lines in Coogan’s trademark very-British accent (similar to when Kevin Costner played Robin Hood with an American accent, or when Sean Connery played a Russian submarine captain with a Scottish accent). This only serves to constantly be pulling the audience out of the reality that the filmmakers are trying to create, by reminding you that these are actors playing these roles.

John C. Reilly’s performance, however, is quite a sight to behold. He is almost unrecognisable (thanks to some incredible prosthetic make-up work), and is very different in this film from a lot of the other roles we have seen him in in the past. He emerges from this project as someone who deserves to be taken seriously as a dramatic actor, not simply an incredibly accomplished comedic actor.

The two wives are well portrayed, and have a lot of comedic banter between the two of them, too; they almost upstage Laurel and Hardy at many points. But they also have great chemistry with their respective partners, and their relationships come through very strongly.

The production design is well done, too. Taking the audience back to the 1920s, 30s and 40s, everything on screen contributes to the reality of these characters.

The score is nothing spectacular, but it is adequate.

Director John S. Baird has perhaps come to this project with a lot of ambition and ideas, but few of them are well executed enough for me to feel comfortable recommending it.

4 out of 10.