The Death of Stalin (2017)

The Death of Stalin is quite simply, a political comedy… if there even is such a thing. The story walks us through Stalin’s last moments alive, and the challenges the rest of his cabinet faced after his death, with a nice dose of comedy.

We caught the Death of Stalin before its release at an Oden Screen Unseen, and it has taken me until now to face writing this review. This isn’t because it was a bad film, it was enjoyable – but it was a bit of something and nothing at the same time. So, I can already tell it’s going to be a short review.

I really think this film will be appealing to certain audiences, while others may find this if not boring, perhaps offensive, but this genuinely depends on your sense of humour. This film takes a serious event, and basically takes the piss out it, which comes with strengths and weaknesses. The film jumps straight in and sets the scene, which is perfect because it’s something people shouldn’t really need much of a back story for. Which is emphasised right at the beginning when we see characters who seem to be incredibly paranoid that they are at risk and are being watched. If you are going into this film blind, not knowing anything about Stalin, you get the idea that there are some bad things going on…

The cast in this film were the redeeming quality. The performance of Steve Buscemi was probably the most noteworthy. This was the only person I distinctly remember being in this film. His character really brought across the fact that while we are dealing with something very dark, there is still room for a little chuckle. 

While I don’t want to comment on the historical accuracy of this film, it is obvious in certain scenes that events are painfully dramatized, and I do remember sighing because I got bored of the cheap satire. The only way I can describe some of the comedy, is by calling it ‘Dad comedy’.

There is nothing unbelievable about the tools used in this film, the lighting in this film was consistently dull, which suited the atmosphere that was being displayed, which was great. The score… I know there was one, but it’s nothing to write home about. Honestly, the production was fairly average.

All I can really say is that this film is entertaining. It is definitely funny, but also serious. It uses classic British comedy to lighten a difficult subject, and that is something I enjoy.

However, I don’t think it’s everyone’s cup of tea, and I doubt I’d ever watch it again.

5.5/10

Boss Baby (2017)

So after a bit of a cock up at the cinema, I ended up seeing a showing of Boss Baby. You know what, hilarious. I love Alec Baldwin, fancied him in Beetlejuice and adored him in 30 Rock, was intrigued on that alone. Did not realise how many other well known actors were involved in this film either. So little Timothy Templeton has a great life with him and his parents, unfortunately Tim's mum, played by Lisa Kudrow, is pregnant. Baby Baldwin shows up in a taxi in a suit and starts running a muck.  Tim's mum and his dad, played by Jimmy Kimmel, are oblivious and try to make them bond as brothers. Soon Tim unravels that Boss Baby comes from a huge corporation of babies, Baby Corp, of babies with adult minds that make business. And that the reason Boss Baby is here is due to the world finding puppies cuter than babies and they need to get that love back to be top dog, figuratively. Cute imaginative concept with equally silly execution.

I gotta talk about the animation, there's no way I can't. I loved it, I loved the animation. Its not just the standard Dreamworks that you see in the trailers, though that it the main animation. Its a story told by a child so his imagination runs wild and you can see that. Some really gorgeous homages from some classic cinema styles. They were quite creative with how they showed some scenes. Some plot points were pushed forward with a once upon a time type trope with a character literally sitting you down and telling you the back story, but fine, it's a kids film. My favourite parts were probably those little tidbits and they came at a good pace, visually fantastic, definitely brought the average imagery of the film up. Hans Zimmer has a chuck at the music so there that is. Not much more to say about that, he's quality at what he does and is always whats needed for which ever film he does. Follows along with the more creative visuals with theatrical sound to parallel.

The film was jokes though. Kids jokes yes and adult jokes also, but I mean it has Alec Baldwin, he has a great voice, a voice that juxtaposed with a baby is ridiculous. And that's something I think they did well. Had a funny balance between grown up and baby, yes some jokes in that vein were unoriginal but you know why? Because all babies behave the same, that's why. There's only a finite amount of things that babies do. Boss Baby having tiny power naps was adorable, him throwing money at Tim to buy him sushi as a pretentious little businessman was great in contrast. There were a few surprise jokes for me, ever have a joke just catch you by surprise and you're a little bit shocked that you are actually laughing out loud? Well that happened a few times in this film. Just a few jokes that were breezed over so casually that caught me off guard. Definitely a kids film, a lot of silly jokes, but most of them worked. I'd say Boss Baby is the funniest character, Tim Templeton isn't meant to be as funny, he's meant to be more of a genuine little boy. Boss Baby's little entourage wasn't particularly memorable but did they did fine to tag along in a couple scenes. The villain played by Steve Buscemi wasn't that funny either. Debatably the funniest character was actually Tim's wizard alarm clock, played by James McGrath doing a wonderful Gandalf impression. No doubt kids will be giggling a cartoon baby bum cheek and lets be honest adults probably will too.

The constant message throughout is that love can be shared. It's not one over another it's huge worldwide, parental love for everyone equally. It's great for a young child trying to accept a new addition to the family, no one is replaced people are just added to the love pie chart. Templeton learns, after a while that there's no need for competition. He struggled with the idea of neglect and being 'fired from your own family', neither of which is true of course. Boss Baby also deals with this competition at work and the villain also has this same theme of not being the favourite.

6/10 Funny but not thaaat memorable adaptation of a successful children's picture book. Good cast, great animation and sweet message. Kids will enjoy it but not every joke will get a laugh from the adults.