It Snows in Benidorm

Rated: MA 15+It Snows in Benidorm

Directed by: Isabel Coixet

Produced by: El Deseo, Pedro And Agustín Almodóvar

Starring: Timothy Spall, Sarita Choudhury, Ana Torrent, Carmen Machi.

For years, nice guy Peter Riordan (Timothy Spall) has been losing himself in the modest comforts of his daily life. The four ginger nut biscuits he carefully lines up to dunk in his solitary cup of tea every morning, the photograph of the sky he snaps before breakfast and the satisfaction he takes when he finds compassionate and sustainable solutions for his clientele. With his work unappreciated and made to report to a much younger man, Peter’s ethics are out of step with the slick practices and doublespeak of contemporary banking and he eventually finds himself pushed into an early retirement.

That is just the nudge Peter has needed to take up his brother’s invitation to come and stay with him in his apartment on the Mediterranean coast at Benidorm. Only there is no sign of his brother by the time Peter lands at Alicante Airport. Daniel has just vanished. At a complete loss, Peter finds himself ushered up to his brother’s flash but slightly trashy apartment, from where he sets about trying to find Daniel through the traces his brother has left behind.

As Peter is very much an archetypical outsider who spends much of his time alone, director Isabel Coixet uses a voiceover to as a way to convey Peter’s thoughts. It’s a risky technique but, in this instance, it is reasonably subtle and it does underscore how solitary Peter’s existence is. At the same time, the feeling of alienation and distance Coixet achieves is at odds with the feeling of being caught up in the moment, which makes watching films so compelling.

However, I was soon yanked back into Benidorm’s ambiance when Peter goes out for the evening and winds up at his brother’s nightclub. He arrives just as a chunky Elvis impersonator is finishing a very amateurish but moving version of ‘The King’s’ In the Ghetto. This is followed by an act put on by Daniel’s business partner, the slinky, leather-clad, prawn-head-chomping Alex, whose seductive gyrations instantly beguile Daniel, as well as holding everyone else in the audience in thrall.

Benidorm is a place that holds a strange attraction. On the surface it is a gaudy tourist resort and party town that thrives on sunny mornings and long, tropical nights, at the same time it is a place with a seamy underbelly infiltrated by the mafia and shady dealers. But Benidorm is also an outpost where the locals live their lives according to their own sense of poetry and philosophy. This, they attribute to the celebrated poet Sylvia Plath having rented a beachside cottage there in the 1950s.

As Peter spends more time prowling around the city in search of his brother, Benidorm itself gradually becomes one of the characters, with its own subtle methods of alluring and beguiling those who thought they were just passing through and even those seeking to escape.

While there might be some echoes of Citizen Kane in Peter’s quest to find his errant brother, it is not the deepest truth about Daniel that Peter uncovers, rather he finds a conduit into the workings of his own long-suppressed desires.

It Snows in Benidorm is a beautifully filmed and thoughtful drama, buoyed by a gentle humour and unexpected moments of lyricism.

Book of Love

Rated: MBook of Love

Directed by: Analeine Cal y Mayor

Written by: David Quantick & Analeine Cal y Mayor

Produced by: Naysun Alae-Carew, Michael Knowles, Allan Niblo & Richard Alan Reid

Starring: Sam Claflin, Verónica Echegui, Fernando Becerril, Horacio Villalobos and Lucy Punch.

‘You’ve never been in love,’ Maria (Verónica Echegui) tells Henry (Sam Claflin).

She can tell by the way he writes, his novel, ‘The Sensible Heart,’ described by Henry as a book about practical love.

Yawn.

That’s what anyone who’s ever read it thinks.

Until Maria translates the book into Spanish, to become the Number 1 Best Seller in Mexico.

She does more than translate, she re-writes Henry’s passionless vision of love into a sex-romp.

He wonders why Mexican fans are sending him sex-pics.

When he finds out about the changes to his book (he doesn’t speak Spanish which adds to the comedy) he’s mortified.  But who cares?  It’s selling.

So when his publisher (Lucy Punch) forces Henry to go to Mexico to promote the book (he didn’t write) it’s a comedy of awkward moments as this stuffy Englishman tries to politely give credit to a book he didn’t write while falling in love with the woman who re-writes him.

Book Of Love lives up to the romance of the title with the extra hint of pink font in the opening credits.

Polite and stuffy yet handsome Englishman meets passionate with unrecognised talent, Mexican single mum, Maria.

Classic romantic set-up.

It’s a comedy too (rom-com), lacy undies thrown on stage included.  And there’s sheep.

It’s a light-weight viewing that rolls along on sweet moments with son and grandpa Max (Fernando Becerril) in the back of the Volkswagen beetle brought along on tour because they can’t be trusted to be alone.  Then there’s the jealous ex with comments like, ‘I promise this is the last time I let you down.’

The humour appealed to my cynicism, so I wanted Maria to succeed.

There’re a few hurdles in this love story to keep it interesting, and a fresh take on the drama that unfolds between new love and letting go of the old.  Or not even letting go just knowing what feels right and what is so obviously wrong.  And understanding the difference between lust and love; how love is an ideal not a reality, that people are the reality of love and that people let you down.  But that passion is also part of love and in the end can lead to one big hot mess but that’s OK.

It all gets a bit unrealistic, in other words a rom-com (what did you expect?!) where I chuckled a few times with the romance sweet without being over cheesy.

Cyrano

Rated: MCyrano

Directed by: Joe Wright

Screenplay by: Erica Schmidt

Based on: The stage musical adapted and directed by Erica Schmidt, from ‘Cyrano de Bergerac’ by Edmond Rostand, with music by Aaron & Bryce Dessner and lyrics by Matt Berninger & Carin Besser

Music by: Bryce Dessner & Aaron Dessner

Produced by: Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Guy Heeley

Executive Produced by: Erica Schmidt, Sarah-Jane Robinson, Sherraz Shah, Lucas Webb, Matt Berninger, Carin Besser, Aaron Dessner

Starring: Peter Dinklage, Haley Bennett, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Ben Mendelsohn.

‘My sole purpose on this earth is to love Roxanne (Haley Bennett),’ laments Cyrano (Peter Dinklage).

He at least has the decency to be a little embarrassed of the words uttered to his friend, Le Bret (Bashir Salahuddin).

It’s not the flowery words that embarrass Cyrano, but that he has admitted his love for the unreachable.

He is a midget and she a great beauty to be worshiped.

Cyrano and Roxanne are friends.  Best friends.  If he told her of his true feelings, he would lose her forever.

Cyrano sighs as he states, ‘I am living proof that God has a sick sense of humour.’

Pursued by the Duke De Guiche (Ben Mendelsohn), Roxanne’s loved by many.

The Duke is rich, she’s poor. Her handmaiden (Monica Dolan) reminds her, ‘Children need love. Adults need money.’

Roxanne wants love more than anything. And thinks she’s found it when she sees the dashing soldier, Christian (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) for the first time.

It’s love at first sight.

Christian is handsome but without a sharp wit. It’s up to Cyrano to write letters on Christian’s behalf, to write all the things he’s ever wanted to tell Roxanne.  Only to be signed by Christian.

Cyrano is a musical romance set at a time of puppet shows, lace and ribbons, duels and corsets.

Not my favourite flavour of film.

I promised myself to keep an open mind.

Expect singing from the outset.

And also some great lines from Cyrano like, ‘Would you defend this… sausage?!’  He describes an actor wearing a red frizzy wig and well past his used-by date.

I quote the dialogue often because there is just so much to quote; the words, the lyrics roll like waves throughout the film.

The love story does cloy with Roxanne’s demand of a handsome Christian filled with handsome words – with the expectation of nothing less.

It’s all very pretty and irritating with the ink on the paper of the first letter making her nervous.

But wow, there are some spectacular scenes of clever camera work of sword fighting and the audience back-and-forth in the theatre; the quiet of breathing.

And then the tears started.

It wasn’t the love story that got me, but the soldiers singing the words of their letter to be sent to their loved ones back home.  The lyrics here are beautiful in their lack of sentiment.  That’s what got to me: the clear-sighted expression of feeling.

The words and lyrics of the film are more like poetic truth than song.

Yes, there are irritating, long-winded moments but Peter Dinklage as Cyrano has a way of balancing the sweetness of the romance with a wry wit.

And once the tears started, the rest of the film built on that emotion.

So I admit, I got into a musical romance.

Marry Me

Rated: PGMarry Me

Directed by: Kat Coiro

Screenplay Written by: John Rogers & Tami Sagher, Harper Dill

Based on the Graphic Novel by: Bobby Crosby

Produced by: Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas, Jennifer Lopez, Benny Medina, John Rogers

Executive Produced by: Alex Brown, Willie Mercer, Pamela Thur, J. B. Roberts

Starring: Jennifer Lopez, Owen Wilson, Maluma, John Bradley and Sarah Silverman.

Married three times and about to marry for the forth, super star Kat Valdez (Jennifer Lopez) has written a song with her also-a-super-star fiancé, Bastian (Maluma): Marry Me.

They’re set to sing the song at their wedding recorded live to stream across all platforms to over 20 million people making them the two most famous people on the planet.

And in front of all those people, Kat’s world falls apart when Bastian is posted cheating with her assistant.  She sees the post just before rising onto the stage of her wedding.

Enter, Charlie (Owen Wilson).

Divorced and dad of Lou (Chloe Coleman), math teacher with no criminal record and holding up a sign: Marry Me.

They lock eyes.

OK.

So they get married.  But only for show.  It’s a meltdown, an impulsive moment.  It will pass.  The media frenzy will die down.  It’s just for show.

Until it’s not.

I didn’t think I’d get into this movie, the premise being more than a stretch…  Well, not so much these days?!

And I guess that’s of the point of the film, questioning the idea of getting married.  Falling in love with the idea of the person and not who the person really is but what you want them to be.

There’s some foundation to the idea of these superstar with Jennifer Lopez being a singer and dancer in real life (alongside Latin music star Maluma), so the characters had some cred.

I wasn’t one-hundred percent sold on the Charlie character but he had some good lines, ‘I was, I am a fun guy.’  Tongue in cheek.  He is a likeable guy.  It was more the lack of chemistry between the celebrity singer and normal guy Charlie.

This is a film about getting to know each other rather than a steamy romance.

He is a math teacher who goes to bed at 8pm to read a book.

So it’s more about the relationship and the magic of taking that leap of faith.  A romance that has some chuckles but is more about friendship.

It’s a little like, Notting Hill (1999) with Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant where the superstar actress falls for the normal guy.  But stretch that to a massive audience and streamed live on social media.

The formula’s always the same: the unlikely match, to the relationship working, to an obstacle, to taking the leap and overcoming the doubt, to tear jerker moment to heart-warming ending.

I’m admit to some cynicism.

But I kinda got into it with the aging British Bulldog, Tank used well to provoke those warm and fuzzies that will encourage hand holding leading up to Valentine’s Day.

Go on, take that leap of faith.  Or don’t.

Either way, I agree with the sentiment, ‘If you want something different you have to do something different.’

 

Blacklight

Rated: MBlacklight

Directed by: Mark Williams

Written by: Nick May & Mark Williams

Produced by: Mark Williams, Paul Currie, Myles Nestel, Aleve Loh, Coco Ma

Starring: Liam Neeson, Aidan Quinn, Taylor John Smith, Emmy Raver-Lampman, Andrew Shaw, Zac Lemons, Claire Van Der Boom, Gabriella Sengos, Tim Draxl, Yael Stone, Georgia Flood, Caroline Brazier, Melanie Jarnsen.

‘Have I been doing the right thing?’ wonders, off-the-books fixer, Travis Block (Liam Neeson).

He’s the one head of the FBI, Bill Robinson (Aidan Quinn) turns to when deep cover agents get lost or worse, found out.

So when fellow agent Dusty Crane (Taylor John Smith) is found in his car full of pills and booze, leaving in his wake four cops who try and fail to take him down… Block is called to bring him in.

But instead of bringing Dusty back to the Bureau, Block discovers Dusty was on his way to meet Mira (Emmy Raver-Lampman).  A journalist.  He has a story to tell.  A story that will force Block to question what he’s been doing with his life.

Blacklight opens to a protest led by politician, Sofia Flores (Melanie Jarnsen); her speech including emotive statements like:

Financial greed

Domestic terrorism

Equal pay for everyone

We have something say!

Cut to the background of American flags flying in the breeze.

I admit I was cringing with the dramatic build of drums and high-hat flourishes.

Then enters Block.  He taps his second finger: 1-2-3.  Waiting for things to explode.

Blacklight is a classic style action movie with double take camera shots to increase that feeling of adrenaline and then missing takes to show a fragmented mind.

Then there’s the drama of Block wanting out: ‘There is no out for you.’

He wants a second chance at life and to spend more time with his granddaughter.

But his hospital working daughter doesn’t think he’s up to it: ‘Natalie doesn’t need a fixer like you.’

He wants out, they won’t let him.  His family don’t trust him because of his past…  The formula is a familiar one.  Very familiar.

Which is not always a bad thing.

But those camera double takes started to cloy after the first half hour.  As did the statements like, ‘The American people need to know the truth.’

It wasn’t all bad.  There is… action.  And a few twists.

And Neeson brings it, as always, with his brutish sincerity.

It just feels like a movie I’ve seen a dozen times before.

Watchable, then forgettable.

Moonfall

Rated: MMoonfall

Directed by: Roland Emmerich

Screenplay Written by: Roland Emmerich, Harald Kloser, Spenser Cohen

Produced by: Roland Emmerich, Harald Kloser

Starring: Halle Berry, Patrick Wilson, Donald Sutherland, Michael Peña.

‘We’re not prepared for this.’

Part disaster movie, part sci-fi, comedy and drama, Moonfall begins its journey in space.  Where an anomaly throws a routine repair mission into a tragedy.

Jocinda (Halle Berry), AKA space wife loses her memory.  And space hero Brian Harper (Patrick Wilson) loses everything.

After the tragedy is chalked up to human error, back on earth, Harper is now a fallen hero.

Fast forward ten years and something’s not right.

The moon is out of orbit and the first one to realise is megastructure conspiracist, K. C. Houseman (John Bradley).

But no one will listen.

‘Make them listen,’ says his mum.

So he does.

Being a Roland Emmerich film (think, Independence Day (1996), The Day After Tomorrow (2004) and 2012 (2012)), I expected a big budget disaster movie, and as already introduced, Moonfall is part disaster, part everything else.

Some notes hit, like the chuckles evoked from conspiracist, I-lost-two-mops, Houseman (you’ll recognise John Bradley as Sam in, Game of Thrones).  And some notes didn’t with the suspense lost in the drama of Jocinda and her ex, military man, Doug Davidson (Eme Ikwuakor) and bad-boy son, Sonny (Charlie Plummer).  And what I think was supposed to be an exchange student (?) Michelle (Kelly Yu).

I got a little lost down some rabbit holes.

But there’s a good foundation with a strong performance from Patrick Wilson and the movie’s saving grace, John Bradley.

And the effects on the big screen managed to distract from the sometimes forced, ‘I work for the American people and you’re keeping them in the dark,’ sentiment that made up about an eighth of the movie.

What was lacking in the emotional subtleties was glossed over with exploding cosmic rocks like fireworks and a looming, disintegrating moon pulling the ocean up and over high rise buildings.

Entertaining on the big screen and one of the better disaster movies with some attempt to dive into some interesting concepts.

What I enjoyed the most was the comedy.

So, a bit of an all-rounder.

I didn’t love it; didn’t hate it.

I had a giggle, liked the effects, made me wonder while some of the drama made me cringe.

India Sweets and Spices

Rated: MIndia Sweets and Spices

Directed and Written by: Geeta Malik

Produced by: John Penotti, Sidney Kimmel, Gigi Pritzker, Naomi Despres

Starring: Sophia Ali, Manisha Koirala, Rish Shah, Adil Hussain, Deepti Gupta, Anita Kalathara.

India Sweets and Spices presents a feast of Indian food and a glittering array of saris as the residents of Ruby Hill dress to the hilt for a weekly rotation of dinner parties during the holiday season. When Alia (Sophia Ali), the eldest daughter a successful heart surgeon (Adil Hussain), returns home from her first year away at university she is expected to play the role of demure Indian daughter looking to attract a suitable husband at these gatherings, but she has long ago outgrown her part. Now she cannot even pretend that she doesn’t find life in this bourgeois Indian enclave utterly stultifying. On the night before her departure she confides to a friend that it’s: ‘The place where brain cells go to die’.

During her time at UCLA, Alia has become heavily involved in social justice issues and takes it as her right that she is entitled to speak out and act upon what she believes in. Much to the horror of her mother. Sheila (Manisha Koirala) is not only a bored but devoted housewife and hostess extraordinaire, she is also the unofficial queen of the Ruby Hill social scene, and she is a woman with a past. It is a secret she has been keeping from her children and the community. In a community where everyone has a secret.

Once a haven for new arrivals looking to safely establish themselves in their adopted country, Ruby Hill has over time become a locked cage, where the corrosive tongues of ‘the aunties’ not only keep the residents in and in line but also keep new arrivals out. On the surface life is uncomplicated and easy in this enclave of backyard swimming pools, luxury vehicles and fantasy weddings where a groom might ride in on a tiger, but the entire community is being held hostage to the threat of exposure and embarrassment. It is a powerful deterrent, but the carefully manicured web of illusion this coterie has cultivated around themselves is impossible to maintain, even with the most watchful of blind eyes.

When Alia locks eyes with her new beau (Rish Shah) in the biscuit aisle of the local Indian grocery store and on impulse invites him and his family to a weekly dinner party, it will tug at a thread that will eventually unravel all of the secrets. Beginning with, possibly, the biggest secrets of all. The ones her own family have been keeping from her.

This feminist romantic comedy/ coming of age drama begins with a finely wrought script from Geeta Malik, with some precisely-calibrated lines for Alia to deploy against the ‘aunties’. Originally reading for the part of Alia’s best friend Neha (Anita Kalathara), Sophia Ali has been beautifully cast Alia Kapur as she tenaciously pursues the question, ‘What if we are who we are and then we don’t recognise ourselves anymore?’ It’s not only a question for Alia; the conundrum equally applies to Sheila and Ranjit when their secrets are finally revealed. As it is, perhaps, for many more in their circle.

Scream

GoMovieReviews Rating: ★★★1/2Scream

Rated: MA15+

Directed by: Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett

Written by: James Vanderbilt, Guy Busick

Characters Created by: Kevin Williamson

Produced by: Paul Neinstein, William Sherak, James Vanderbilt

Starring: Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Jenna Orgtega, Melissa Barrera, Marley Shelton, Dylan Minnette, Jack Quaid, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Sonia Ammar, Mikey Madison, Mason Gooding, Kyle Gallner and Reggie Conquest.

‘What’s your favourite move?’

The phone rings and I think to myself, who has a landline?

But Scream 2022 is all about bringing back the audience to the same opening as Scream 1996, the original.

Tara (Jenna Orgtega) answers.  She’s home alone and about to get stabbed.

Welcome back to Woodsboro.

Scream the return, doesn’t shy away from its slasher genre.  The film gets very stabby, Ghostface relentless as the knife penetrates cheeks and stomachs, people straddled with two handed plunges.  It gets bloody.  As expected with the Scream franchise.

The difference with this instalment is the invitation to the audience to be part of ‘the game’.

Watching the characters walking around the house just waiting for Ghostface to suddenly appear behind a door.  It’s a tease and light-hearted (if a slasher can be light-hearted) because the audience knows what’s going to happen.  We’ve seen it all before and know:

Don’t go off on your own.

If you know the why of the killing, you’ll know who’s the next target.

The killer is always part of the tight-knit group of friends being targeted, here your somewhat typical high school buddies, hyper vigilant Wes (Dylan Minnette), twins Mindy (Jasmin Savoy Brown) and Chad (Mason Gooding), girlfriend of Chad, Liv (Sonia Ammar) and best buddy of Tara, Amber (Mikey Madison).

The film uses the assumption the audience knows what’s coming and the characters know what’s coming next because they’ve all seen the slasher franchise, ‘Stab’.  Which is basically the Scream franchise so the characters analyse their situation based on the Stab movies.  While being in a Scream movie.  Scream the return, or ‘requel’ as described by Mindy is not just a slasher, but also self-reflecting that makes for some funny, tongue-in-cheek humour.

Another rule in making a sequel (requel) is bringing back some legends, enter the return of Sheriff Dewey Riley (David Arquette), Gale Riley (Courteney Cox) and of course, Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell).

So there’s the current storyline of Tara and her sister Sam (Melissa Barrera) with boyfriend Richie (Jack Quaid) coming back to Woodsboro to help solve this new phase of Ghostface killings.

And there’s the legends brought back to help figure out who Ghostface is because they’ve been in the same situation many times before.

All the while inviting the audience to see the characters reflect on their story while comparing the killings to the Stab movies while we the audience watch them.

Is it better than the original?  No.  The first one was shocking and unforgettable.  But it’s just as good in other ways because it’s something different and challenging.

This instalment is not your typical slasher and the risky re-visit to the original idea of, Scream, is surprisingly successful.  It’s like a re-make in a re-make that leads to all sorts of layers and humour while still having the scary moments.

Recommend going back and watching at least the first Scream movie to get some of those aside jokes.

 

The 355

GoMovieReviews Rating: ★★★☆ (3.2/5)The 355

Rated: M

Directed by: Simon Kinberg

Written by: Theresa Rebeck, Simon Kinberg

Produced by: Jessica Chastain, Kelly Carmichael, Simon Kinberg

Executive Producer: Richard Hewitt

Starring: Jessica Chastain, Penélope Cruz, Bingbing Fan, Diane Kruger, Lupita Nyong’o, Sebastian Stan, Edgar Ramírez.

‘They get this?  They start WWIII,’ says ex MI6 agent Khadija (Lupita Nyong’o).

And by ‘this’, she means the bad people out there getting hold of an intricate set of algorithms designed to unlock any system, in other words: a totally untraceable Master Key.

The CIA wants it, the BND (German intelligence service) wants it.  And roped into the desperate search for this potential world changing weapon are former MI6 agent, Khadija (Lupita Nyong’o) and Colombian psychologist Graciela (Penélope Cruz).

The chase crosses the globe from Paris to Morocco to Shanghai as the agents fight against each other to then be forced to work together because as Khadija says, ‘The enemy of my enemy is my friend.’

The 355 is more action than espionage as each side fights for the prize.

There’re some jumps and very near misses that ramp up the tension with visceral moments like hearing that small crack as a rib gets broken.

The storyline dabbles in the drama of these strong female leads: CIA agent, Mason Brown (Jessica Chastain) AKA Mace a loner, Graciela the out-of-her-depth psychologist wanting to get back to her family, Khadija making a go of a normal life, Chinese agent Lin Mi Sheng (Bingbing Fan) and German agent Marie (Diane Kruger) the ultimate badass and designated by the team as the one that’s the most messed up.

Director and writer Simon Kinberg (along with fellow writer Theresa Rebeck) skirts the line of working with the all-female cast without getting too girly.

Mace likens herself to James Bond but is reminded he always ends up alone.  So, the characters are given some depth in between all the hand-to-hand combat.

But there’re no real surprises here.

Yes, there’s some twists in the plot but the suspense fizzed when all the characters came into play, so the focus was more about the interaction than the tension of the story.

And I didn’t quite believe in this Master Key.

There’s still plenty of knife fights and shoot-ups and bombs exploding but the mystery fell away.  The rawness that had me in the beginning faded making The 355 an average action flick worth a watch without getting too excited about it.

Sing 2

GoMovieReviews Rating: ★★★☆ (3.7/5)

Rated: PGSing 2

Directed by: Garth Jennings

Written by: Garth Jennings

Produced by: Chris Meledandri, Janet Healy

Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon, Scarlett Johansson, Taron Egerton, Tori Kelly, Nick Kroll, Bobby Cannavale, Halsey, Pharrell Williams, Letitia Wright, Eric Andre, Chelsea Peretti and Bono.

‘Guts, determination and faith.’

With all the goings-on at the moment, I felt like I needed some escapism.  But when Sing 2 opened to bright flowers and vegetables singing, it was all VERY bright.  Too bright.

And I’m not a fan of musicals.

I took a Panadol and braced myself.

Then Mr. Moon (Matthew McConaughey), owner of the New Moon Theatre goes and gets himself drenched.  Then proceeds to dry his koala fur with a hair dryer so he looks like a fluff ball.

It’s a bit adorable.

Because after being told his show, a local hit, isn’t good enough for the Crystal Tower Theatre in Redshore City, Buster Moon takes his new show to Redshore City anyway.

He believes he’s got a shot with cast: Rosita (Reese Witherspoon), Ash (Scarlett Johansson), Gorilla Johnny (Taron Egerton, Meena (Tori Keely) and Gunter (Nick Kroll).

He’ll convince Mr. Crystal (Bobby Cannavale) they’re worth an audience.

Sing 2 is the second instalment of Sing (2016), with director and writer Garth Jennings returning with familiar characters and some new (Bono is in this one as recluse rock legend, Clay Calloway).

Sing 2 is about over coming fear with Rosita given the lead role of the new show only to freak out so her new found responsibility is taken from her and given to Mr. Crystal’s daughter, Porsha (Halsey).

There’s Meena’s terror of the over-confident and hair award winning, Elwood (Eric Andre): how can she act like she’s in love for the show when she has no idea what it feels like?

However, Miss Crawly (Garth Jennings) with the glass eye (my favourite) is fearless.  Until she tries to convince recluse super star, Clay Calloway to come back into the spotlight only to be shot at with paint balls: pew, pew.

Along with some laughs, there’s an almost overwhelming wealth of emotion bursting from the screen, with the songs seamlessly complimenting the storyline; the voices so pure, I literally had tears spring to my eyes.

The music is fantastic as these characters learn to overcome their fear.

I attended a public screening for this one, and kids were literally dancing in front of their seats.

There’s a couple of scary moments (particularly if you’re scared of heights), but this is a sweet and adorable escape for a family viewing that will leave songs playing in your head for hours after the credits roll.

I’m still humming, You’ve got to get yourself together, you got stuck in a moment, and you can’t get out of it…  Touché.

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