leebutler Uncategorized

The Babysitter

Released 13th October

Seen 14th November

The Babysitter.jpg

Directed by McG
Written by Brian Duffield
Produced by Boies/Schiller Film Group, New Line Cinema & Wonderland Sound and Vision
Starring Judah Lewis, Samara Weaving, Robbie Amell, Hana Mae Lee, Bella Thorne & Andrew Bachelor

The character of the babysitter in a horror film is one of the more common tropes. Usually, the babysitter is the victim of the crazy man going around the town killing people. This was the case in the classics like Halloween or When A Stranger Calls where the main protagonist of the film was a babysitter. The Babysitter asks a very simple question, “What would happen if the babysitter was the antagonist instead of the protagonist?”. Turns out the answer, much like an overused Facebook status, is “It’s complicated”

Continue reading “The Babysitter” →

leebutler Uncategorized

King Arthur: Legend of the Sword

Released 18th May (Australia)

Seen 14th November

King Arthur

Directed by Guy Ritchie
Written by Joby Harold, Guy Ritchie & Lionel Wigram
Produced by Warner Bros., Village Roadshow Pictures, Weed Road Pictures, Safehouse Picture, Wigram Productions , RatPac-Dune Entertainment
Starring Charlie Hunnam, Jude Law & Astrid Bergès-Frisbey

The tale of King Arthur and the Knights of Camelot is one that has been told hundreds of times throughout the ages. It’s been a musical, a cartoon, a TV series, a Disney Channel Original Movie… hell, it was literally the starting point of the last Transformers movie. Arthurian legend is a tale as old as time and now it’s Guy Ritchie’s turn to have a stab at the well-told tale. Many critics seem to really hate this film… I am not ‘many critics’, despite what my talking scale might tell you.

Continue reading “King Arthur: Legend of the Sword” →

leebutler Uncategorized

Sleepless

Released 16th February (Australia)

Seen 13th November

Sleepless

Directed by Baran bo Odar
Written by Andrea Berloff
Produced by FilmNation Entertainment, Open Road Films, Riverstone Pictures & Vertigo Entertainment
Starring Jamie Foxx, Michelle Monaghan, Scoot McNairy & Dermot Mulroney

In the 1990’s, the drug Ambien rose to prominence as a form of sleep aid. It was a branded version of the zolpidem class of drugs that would aid someone in going to sleep, even though it had adverse side effects such as causing people to sleepwalk and being a very addictive substance. I think I found a really good substitute for that drug that has no adverse side effects. I’ll take my Nobel prize in medicine now for discovering this brilliant alternative, thank you.

Continue reading “Sleepless” →

leebutler Uncategorized

Snatched

Released 11th May (Australia)

Seen 12th November

Snatched.jpg

Directed by Jonathan Levine
Written by Katie Dippold
Produced by Chernin Entertainment, Feigco Entertainment, Twentieth Century Fox
Starring Amy Schumer & Goldie Hawn

Between the years 1970 and 2000, one of the biggest film comedy stars was Goldie Hawn. She hasn’t been in a major motion picture since The Banger Sisters in 2002 so seeing her back in a film is one hell of a treat… and thank God because she saved this movie.

Continue reading “Snatched” →

leebutler Uncategorized

The Lego Batman Movie

Released 30th March (Australia)

Seen 11th November

Lego Batman.jpg

Directed by Chris McKay
Written by Seth Grahame-Smith, Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers, Jared Stern & John Whittington
Produced by DC Entertainment, Lego System A/S, Lin Pictures, Lord Miller, RatPac-Dune Entertainment, Vertigo Entertainment, Warner Animation Group, Warner Bros. Animation & Warner Bros
Starring Will Arnett, Michael Cera, Rosario Dawson & Ralph Fiennes

Earlier this year I saw Lego Ninjago, a movie that was clearly spewed out to capitalize on the cinematic success that was The Lego Movie. At the start of that review, I mentioned that “Lego Batman… showed you could play around in multiple established universes and still tell your own story”. I knew this because my younger brother told me the basic storyline of the Lego Batman movie and, at that point, I hadn’t seen Lego Batman. I’ve now rectified that and somehow, it makes me think Lego Ninjago was actually worse.

Continue reading “The Lego Batman Movie” →

leebutler Uncategorized

Monster Trucks

Released 12th January

Seen 10th November

Monster Trucks.jpg

Directed by Chris Wedge
Written by Derek Connolly
Produced by Disruption Entertainment, FortyFour Studios, Nickelodeon Movies & Paramount Pictures
Starring Lucas Till, Jane Levy, Thomas Lennon, Danny Glover & Rob Lowe

One of the classic film tropes that have been a major part of cinema is known as the “A Boy and His Dog” trope. The idea is that the story revolves the bond between the boy (Usually our main character) and his dog (Though this can vary). Monster Trucks is absolutely a Boy and his Dog kind of film… it’s just that I don’t care about either the boy or his dog/giant-alien-truck-controlling-creature.

Continue reading “Monster Trucks” →

leebutler Uncategorized

Thor: Ragnarok

Released 26th October

Seen 8th November

Thor Ragnarok.jpg

Directed by Taika Waititi
Written by Eric Pearson, Craig Kyle & Christopher Yost
Produced by Marvel Entertainment & Walt Disney Pictures
Starring Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Tom Hiddleston & Cate Blanchett

Every Marvel film since the start of the MCU has had a very specific format. When you break it down to its core component they all have this “World is ending, main character only one who can stop it” narrative and all you have to do is change the name of the character and possibly the severity of the threat, but they all have that same basic idea. For Marvel to really take a risk and break out of that strict mould would take a lot. Thor: Ragnarok might not break that mould, but it’s worn the edges of it down considerably and that’s enough of a welcome change for me.

Continue reading “Thor: Ragnarok” →

leebutler Uncategorized

It Comes At Night

Released 6th July (Australia)

Seen 7th November

It Comes At Night Poster.jpg

Written and Directed by Trey Edward Schults
Produced by Animal Kingdom & A24
Starring Joel Edgerton, Carmen Ejogo, Chris Abbott and Riley Keough

Some horror films like to terrify you by submerging you in a world filled with violence and screams and a high body count, some prefer to put you into a world where everything’s gone to hell and no one’s going to be able to make it out no matter how hard they try… this film is the latter kind of horror film and I genuinely love it.

Continue reading “It Comes At Night” →

leebutler Uncategorized

The Boss Baby

Date Released: 31st March 2017

Date Seen: 4th November 2017

The Boss Baby.jpg

In 1999 the movie Baby Geniuses was released, a film about a bunch of babies who have superhuman intelligence who were kidnapped by a bunch of scientists who were trying to understand just how intelligent babies are. It was not a good movie. Boss Baby takes the “Hyper-intelligent baby” aspect and animated it. The results are… well, interesting would be the kind term.

Continue reading “The Boss Baby” →