Movie Review The Bubble

The Bubble 

Directed by Judd Apatow

Written by Judd Apatow, Pam Brady

Starring Karen Gillan, David Duchovy, Pedro Pascal, Keegan Michael Key, Leslie Mann, Kate McKinnon, Fred Armisen

Release Date April 1st, 2022

The Bubble stars Karen Gillan, at the head of an ensemble cast, as a movie star being convinced to return to an action movie franchise she thought that she had left behind. Gillan’s Carol Cobb became a star in the Cliff Beasts franchise and appeared in 4 of the 5 Cliff Beasts films before abandoning the 5th sequel in favor of making a terrible prestige picture where she played a half Israeli, half Palestinian woman at the heart of the middle east crisis. If you can’t see why that’s a problematic role, one look at a picture of Karen Gillan should explain things. 

With this movie failing at the box office and nearly destroying her career, Carol is forced to take back her role in Cliff Beasts for Cliff Beasts 6. However, we’re also in the midst of a pandemic which means that Carol will have to spend several weeks in quarantine in a mansion style hotel in the outskirts of London before shooting can begin. Then she will spend several more months inside the bubble, a closed set intended to protect the cast and crew of Cliff Beasts from COVID-19.

Find my full length review at Geeks.Media, linked here. 

Movie Review Lego Ninjago

Lego Ninjago (2017) 

Directed by Charlie Bean, Paul Fisher, Bob Logan 

Written by Bob Logan, Paul Fisher, William Wheeler, Tom Wheeler, Jared Stern, John Whittington

Starring Dave Franco, Michael Pena, Kumail Nanjiani, Abbi Jacobson, Zach Woods, Fred Armisen, Jackie Chan

Release Date September 22nd, 2017

Published September 22nd, 2017

Lego Ninjago has not one single laugh. It has amusing moments but not a single instance of induced laughter. And I am not just speaking for myself here. The audience I watched Lego Ninjago with was really ready to laugh and you could hear some forced attempts at trying to laugh but as the movie went on even those that kept smiling and trying to find what was happening in Lego Ninjago funny weren’t laughing. It was strange; there was no outward disdain for Lego Ninjago but there weren’t any laughs.

Lloyd (Dave Franco) is a teenager who is constantly picked on because his father happens to be an evil ninja who keeps trying to take over his home town of Ninjago. What the people making fun of Lloyd don’t know is that he’s the legendary Green Ninja who, along with his fellow ninjas, have kept Garmadon (Justin Leroux) from actually destroying Ninjago. Naturally, regularly fighting his dad while flying around on a mechanized ninja dragon has led to more than a few daddy issues for Lloyd.

Thankfully, Lloyd has his uncle, Master Wu (Jackie Chan), who has taught him and his friends everything about being Ninjas and making giant mechanized animals that they use to battle Garmadon’s evil Crab army. Well, he has people dressed as crabs and dressed as sharks and dolphins and they make up his evil army; though at one point he does shoot sharks at people from a giant mechanical arm but that part isn’t very clear. I could follow the action well enough but some of the chaos got a little confusing.

All of that description sounds funny, right? Especially when you consider the recent history of the Lego franchise, The Lego Movie and Lego Batman. Those movies were laugh a minute spectacle that created an anticipation for future Lego movies. Like Lego Ninjago, those casts were overflowing with some of the funniest voices on the planet and Ninjago has a fair share of very funny people like Fred Armisen, Abbi Jacobson, Kumail Nanjiani, all of whom are remarkably funny.

Find my full length review in the Geeks Community on Vocal.