Murder Mystery 2 – Film Review

Posted on April 1, 2023 by ashleymanningwriter

Director: Jeremy Garelick

Writer: James Vanberbilt

Starring: Adam Sander, Jennifer Aniston, Mark Strong

Rating: ★★★½

It’s been four years since Nick (Adam Sandler) and Audrey (Jennifer Aniston) had their belated honeymoon in Netflix’s Murder Mystery, which also happens to be Adam Sandler’s most watched film from his Netflix deal. Now the couple are back to solve more crimes in the simply titled sequel, Murder Mystery 2. During the years since the first film, Nick and Audrey have quit their day-jobs and started a private detective agency, although they’re not very good at it.

After falsely accusing someone of having an affair, Nick and Audrey are worried that their business may go under. To get away from everything they accept an invitation to Maharajah’s (Adeel Akhtar) wedding. While there there’s a couple of awkward moments as the couple join in the welcoming dance to the wedding, Audrey feels judged while taking too much food, and Nick eats all the cheese he can find. Just as the wedding is ramping up, Maharajah is kidnapped, and Nick and Audrey find their holiday turning into a mystery for a second time, and once again they’re the primes suspects.

There’s a lot of similarities with the set-up of the film to the first one, with the major difference being that it’s a kidnapping not a murder that the Spitzes are solving, although Maharajah’s bodyguard is murdered at the same time, but that’s not the focus. That being said there’s still quite a bit of death in the film, especially in a very funny fight sequence in a van, where Nick and Audrey take out a bunch of bad guys while trying to escape. The van is one of a few great set pieces throughout the film, with a great finale taking place on the Eiffel Tower.

Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston are both really great. They play off each other so well and make the film as good as it is. Even though the actual mystery isn’t that complicated, it’s a lot of fun to watch them stumble their way through the clues to try and find out what’s actually happening on, more through luck than through skill. It’s a lot funnier than the first film, with plenty of laugh-out-loud jokes, and some good call-backs to the previous film.  

Without the credits included it clocks in just shy of eighty minutes (even shorter if you cut out a recap of the first film). It keeps a quick pace throughout the story, never really letting up as Nick and Audrey travel across Paris to try and clear their names, once again. This is something you can just switch off and have a laugh while watching.

Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston make a good comedy duo and them playing bumbling detectives seems to be the perfect casting. Hopefully there will be more to come from the Spitzes.  

Thanks for reading! If you liked my review, please subscribe to never miss a post:

Posted in film reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Magic in London: Enrolment – Part 15

Posted on March 31, 2023 by ashleymanningwriter

Catch up on Magic in London here: https://ashleymanning.com/magic-in-london/

Their footsteps echoed throughout the hallways of the school as Chuck and Fiona cautiously made their way through the school. After entering the main entrance, neither of them had found anything to suggest there was anyone else in the building.

“This is too quiet,” Fiona said softly. “I think it was a mistake to let you come in here.”

“I’m here now, though so let’s just carry on.”

“I hope you know that I’m not your babysitter. If you get stuck somewhere, I’m not going to prioritise you over the child we’re here to get.”

“I still can’t believe that this has all happened because of one kid.”

“There are some powerful people out there and it can cause a lot of destruction. That’s why we need to find him.”

“Do you even know what his name is?”

“Arthur things it’s Thomas Cladwell, but I don’t know for sure.”

“Oh, okay. Just need to find Tommy and get the hell out of here before things go from bad to worse.”

They walked through a hallway, passing several empty classrooms as they did. Chuck felt like he was walking through a nightmare he’d had a few times as a child where he turned up to go to school and there was no one there, and when he went back home there was no one there either. He hadn’t thought about it in years, but it was coming back to him, and making his pulse quicken. They walked through a set of double doors that squeaked and creaked as they did. On the other side was just more empty classrooms.

“Do you think we should split up?” Chuck said, the inside of his mouth was dry as he spoke, and it came out croaky.

“No. If you went off by yourself, I’d be looking for two people.”

“I was only trying to help.”

“Just be quiet and keep walking. Stay close to me in case there’s anything here that can hurt us.”

“Like that?”

Chuck had stopped in front of a classroom door and was looking through the little window in the door. Inside was a room filled with children, sitting still and paying attention the board at the front of the room, where a skeleton was writing something down.

“What the hell is that?” Fiona said trying to be quiet.

“I think it’s a magical skeleton that’s teaching a bunch of brainwashed children.”

“I can see that. I just didn’t expect to see it.”

“I’m glad that it’s not just me that finds it weird,” Chuck said and then leant in closer to the window. “What is it writing?”

“I don’t know, I can’t quite see it.”

“Oh, it’s writing ‘you will all die’ over and over. That’s pleasant.”

The skeleton stopped writing, dropped the pen to the floor and turned around. The pen rolled under a desk and out of view. None of the children moved at all.

“Umm, I think it spotted us,” Chuck said.

“Well, you weren’t being exactly quiet.”

Fiona moved forward, opening the door with a big swing and pulling out her knife at the same time.

“Stay back, and make sure there’s nothing else coming.”

Chuck stayed by the door and watched as Fiona walked down the aisle in the middle of the classroom, between the desks. None of the children moved at all, and instead stayed completely still as if they were in a trance. The skeleton stood still as well, watching as Fiona as she got closer, its head slightly tilted to one side. Once Fiona was close enough, she whistled loudly and sharply and slashed her knife towards the skeleton. The air vibrated and a shockwave moved through the skeleton, shattering it and cracking the board behind it. The skeleton broke up into small pieces that flew around the room.

“Whoa,” Chuck said, while watching through the window.

“That was easier than I thought it’d be,” Fiona said looking around at the children, who were still sitting in a trance.

Chuck opened the door and leant inside.

“That was pretty cool, are they going to be okay?”

“I think so, come here.”

Chuck walked through the classroom and stood next to Fiona. He felt like the children were staring right through him. Fiona waved her knife above them all, whistling softly. Almost immediately the children started moving, blinking and moving about. Chuck thought they all looked as if they’d just woken up. The sounds of scrapping chairs, yawning, and soft-spoken questions echoed throughout the room, only to be replaced moments later by screaming.

Almost all at once, the children in front of Chuck started to push their chairs back and stand up, backing away. He looked around and spotted that the bones from the skeleton was starting to reform.

“Fiona,” he said.

“On it.”

Fiona jumped up onto the nearest desk, turning around and swiping the knife towards the skeleton. Another shockwave broke through it and scattered the bones.

“I don’t think that’s going to work,” Chuck said.

The bones started to form again under the desk that Fiona was standing on.

“Jump,” Chuck said, pointing underneath the desk.

Fiona jumped over to the next table and turned around swiping yet again at the skeleton which broke apart.

“Grab its head,” Fiona shouted.

Chuck moved around, looking for the skull. The bones were all sliding back together, as if they were connected by an invisible bungee-cord. Just as the skull started to reach it’s home, Chuck reached out and grabbed it, feeling like he was going to throw up as he did. There was some resistance, but he was able to pull it free.

“Hold it still,” Fiona said.

Chuck turned towards her and held the skull out towards her. Fiona stabbed forward with the knife into the skull, whistling as loud as possible as she did. The skull broke apart, falling to the ground and dissolving into ashes.

“Jesus, that was annoying,” Fiona said. “I really hope there’s not more of them around.”

She turned towards the back of the classroom where the children were waiting.

“Is everyone okay?” she asked.

No one replied.

“Okay, just go home as soon as you can, leave through the main entrance and run all the way home. Don’t stop until you get back.”

There was hesitation at first, but once one started to move, the rest followed quickly. 

To Be Continued…

Part Sixteen is available now: https://ashleymanning.com/2023/04/07/magic-in-london-enrolment-part-16/! Don’t forget to subscribe to never miss a post:

Posted in Short Stories | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Everybody Wants Some!! – Film Review

Posted on March 30, 2023 by ashleymanningwriter

Director: Richard Linklater

Writer: Richard Linklater

Starring: Will Brittain, Zoey Deutch, Ryan Guzman, Tyler Hoechlin, Blake Jenner, J. Quinton Johnson, Glen Powell, Wyatt Russell, Austin Amelio, Temple Baker, Tanner Kalina, Juston Street, Forrest Vickery

Rating: ★★★½

Writer and director Richard Linklater wrote the first draft of Everybody Wants Some!! way back in 2005, and it took eleven years from then for the actual film to be released. It follows Jake Bradford (Blake Jenner), a college freshman who moves into a house with members of the college baseball team that he’s part of. The film follows the members of the team through the last few days and hours before classes begin.

There’s next to no stakes throughout the film as the characters wander through the last moments of true freedom before class begins. There’s an incredibly natural style to it all, and you feel like you’re just watching a snapshot of someone’s life, rather than watching a standard three act story. A lot of the events are things that actually happened while Linklater was in college and that really shows through how authentic everything feels. It’s just about life and through some incredible performances from the entire cast, Linklater explores the past and creates some memorable and realistic characters. 

The film has a lot of similarities to Linklater’s 1993 film Dazed and Confused, and Linklater has even called Everybody Wants Some!! a spiritual sequel to the 1993 film. While Dazed and Confused focuses on the end of high school, following a group of teenagers on the cusp of summer, this film is about the beginning of collage, in the last few hours before classes begin (there’s even a countdown to the first class that appears throughout the film). Much like Dazed there’s an emphasis of the dynamics between the different year groups and the cycles they go through. Jake has it pointed out a lot that he’s a freshman and hasn’t earnt the position of teammate yet, by classmates who were probably being told the same thing the year before, and Jake will go on to tell the next year’s freshman. There are similar ideas being explored in Dazed as well.

From the first moments of the film you can feel Linklater’s style shining through. If you’re a fan of his other films or like very character driven stories that are light on plot, then you’ll probably enjoy this one.

Thanks for reading! If you liked my review, please subscribe to never miss a post:

Posted in film reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Game Night – Film Review

Posted on March 29, 2023 by ashleymanningwriter

Directors: John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein

Writer: Mark Perez

Starring: Jason Bateman, Rachel McAdams, Billy Magnussen, Sharon Horgan, Lamorne Morris, Kylie Bunbury, Jesse Plemons, Michael C. Hall, Kyle Chandler

Rating: ★★★★

The biggest drama at a normal game night is arguing over who won a game, or whether that move was allowed. None of that compares to what happens in directors John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein’s Game Night, in which Max (Jason Bateman) and Annie (Rachel McAdams) along with their group of friends are invited by Max’s brother Brooks (Kyle Chandler) to his house for a new game where he’s arranged for someone to be kidnapped, and he ends up being actually kidnapped before the game even begins.

Apart from Brooks, everyone thinks the game it’s all part of the game, so they split up and start looking for clues to ‘save’ Brooks and don’t take it seriously at first. Even when Brooks is being kidnapped, fighting off his captors, they just sit there and watch, thinking it’s a show. Annie even picks up Brooks’s gun thinking it’s a prop and uses it later on as part of the game. The premise is brilliant and leads to some very funny moments, made even better by a great group of characters.

The film starts with Max and Annie, who are both incredibly competitive, meeting at a quiz night, battling it out and instantly falling for each other as if this was a rom-com meet cute. Bateman and McAdams are both brilliant and have good chemistry together on screen. Jesse Plemons is also brilliant, as their awkward neighbour who is no longer invited to game nights. He comes across a bit standoffish and very intense. He always seems to appear whenever they leave the house, and is the funniest character in the film.

As the story unfolds, there’s plenty of twists. What starts off as a normal game night, quickly results in Annie shooting Max in the arm by accident, and them having to try and remove the bullet in a back alley, which is both funny and a little gross, and that’s not even half-way through. The whole film is entertaining all the way through. There’s a great cast with a fair few surprise cameos. Simply put, Game Night is a great comedy.

Thanks for reading! If you liked my review, please subscribe to never miss a post:

Posted in film reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Babysitter: Killer Queen – Film Review

Posted on March 28, 2023 by ashleymanningwriter

Director: McG

Writers: Dan Lagana, Brad Morris, Jimmy Warden, and McG

Starring: Judah Lewis, Emily Alyn Lind, Jenna Ortega, Robbie Amell, Andrew Bachelor, Leslie Bibb, Hana Mae Lee, Bella Thorne, Samara Weaving, Ken Marino

Rating: ★★1/2

The Babysitter: Killer Queen is the sequel to the 2017 horror comedy. This time around everything is more extreme. There are bigger laughs, more characters, and even more blood and gore. Picking up two years after the first film, Cole (Judah Lewis) is still struggling to get over what happened he found out his babysitter was part of a satanic cult. The worst thing is no one believes that even happened. With his parents looking to send him to a psychiatric school, Cole decides to go to a party at the lake with his neighbour, Melanie (Emily Alyn Lind). While they’re at the party it turns out that Melanie is also looking to complete the ritual that Bee (Samara Weaving) wanted to complete in the first film and turns on Cole. 

Almost straight away you know this is going to be even more goofier than the first one. There’s more slapstick comedy and an even more light-hearted tone. It’s funnier than the first film, although there’s a few jokes that just don’t work and are simply awkward. There’s more characters as well, but the villains from the original are quickly resurrected so the new characters don’t really do anything, to the point that they’re silent during the scene where the original cast come back. They’re just there to give the film a higher body count. There are some inventive deaths, although two people just explode as there’s no use for them in the story anymore, which is a little lazy. There is also a lot more referential humour throughout the film to various things from Friday the 13th to The Terminator, as well as call-backs to the first film. It’s very self-aware, without it being too much, so it’s funny and not obnoxious.

If you watch this film, you have to really just not think about it. None of it make sense. To start, Cole should be fourteen in this film, as it’s two years after the first film, except he looks and acts like he’s older. Melanie is old enough to drive but is in the same year as Cole. It would have made sense to set it a few more years after. Then Melanie knows about the book, and has her name written in it, from the first film even though she was one of the good guys in the original and the book was burnt. Which would surely mean that she was a satanist before the first film? Without spoiling anything, Bee’s motivation, in her cameo appearance, just makes no sense at all. It doesn’t gel with the first film at all. Saying that, the film is still a lot of fun, you just have to switch off and enjoy the goofiness of it all and not think about the plot too much. 

Killer Queen is funnier than the original, although it doesn’t make as much sense. If you switch off and just go with it, you’ll have a good time. A third film hasn’t yet been announced, but McG has said that he’s hopeful it will happen to finish the series off. 

Thanks for reading! If you liked my review, please subscribe to never miss a post:

Posted in film reviews | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment