Minions

For F*** Magazine

MINIONS

Director : Kyle Balda, Pierre Coffin

Cast : Sandra Bullock, Michael Keaton, Jon Hamm, Steve Coogan, Hiroyuki Sanada, Allison Janney, Katy Mixon, Dave Rosenbaum, Pierre Coffin, Chris Renaud

Genre : Animation

Run Time : 91 mins

Opens : 18 June 2015

Rating : PG

Clad in blue overalls with thick goggles over their eye(s), preoccupied with bananas and spouting gibberish, the small yellow creatures known as Minions have scuttled their way into the collective popular culture consciousness. In this prequel/spin-off to the Despicable Me movies, we discover the origins of the Minions, who have been on earth since the dawn of time, drawn to evil masters whom they loyally but often ineffectively serve. It is 1968 and after a long period of unemployment, Kevin, Stuart and Bob set out to seek a new villainous employer for their clan. The stylish, dastardly Scarlet Overkill (Bullock) seems to be just the new boss the Minions seek. Her husband, inventor Herb (Hamm), outfits Kevin, Stuart and Bob with nifty gadgets and they are tasked to steal the Queen’s crown from the Tower of London for Scarlet, who dreams of ruling over the British Empire. Naturally, things go awry for our tiny yellow protagonists. Uh oh.

            It is very easy to be cynical about the existence of this spin-off film. A “minion” serves an evil overlord, who in the context of the Despicable Me series, is Steve Carell’s Gru. Here, the Minions, side characters by design, are given their own show to carry. There is an industry term for something with kid-targeted merchandising potential – “toyetic”. The Minions are as toyetic as they come, designed to be slapped on everything and anything that exasperated parents can fork over the cash for, with a new wave of Minion mania set to strike with the release of this movie. When McDonalds offered Minion Happy Meal toys here in Singapore, lines snaked around the block, rivalling those for Hello Kitty merchandise. It was a goofy, likeable idea to start with, but now it can’t help but feel all market tested and focus grouped out. A story focusing solely on the Minions would have worked fine as a short film or as a theme park attraction – actually, those already exist, but that doesn’t diminish the shiny, lucrative appeal of a feature-length summer release.

            That’s essentially a roundabout way of saying that Minions has no real need to exist, which sounds like a very curmudgeon-y statement indeed now that we’ve read it out loud. For what it is, the film is harmless, often quite amusing and very competently animated. Pierre Coffin co-directed both Despicable Me films and Kyle Balda helmed three Minion-centric short films included on the Despicable Me home release. Coffin and Chris Renaud, co-director of the Despicable Me movies, voice all the Minions themselves. There are several eye-catching sequences and plenty of fun period details for the parents in the audience to grab onto – Kevin, Stuart and Bob walking beneath a giant Nixon campaign poster is a delightfully surreal image. There are perhaps one too many pop culture references – for example, the Minions bumble into the Beatle’s famous Abbey Road crossing. The expected slapstick is not in short supply, but this reviewer’s favourite gag, featuring time-travelling mad scientist Dr. Flux, didn’t involve the Minions at all.

            It was assumed that the Minions were the genetically-engineered creations of Gru – the short film “Orientation Day” follows a bunch of freshly-cloned Minions around Gru’s lab. The Minions’ new back-story raises very many questions. Is this one tribe the only group of Minions in existence? What implications are there in these creatures’ nature to be drawn to only the most unsavoury beings currently alive? Would they have leapt at the chance to serve, say, Adolf Hitler? It makes sense if their lives have no meaning apart from indentured servitude if they were grown that way in a lab, but these creatures are naturally occurring. We’re definitely expending too much thought on it, but these notions did prove very distracting throughout the film’s duration.

            Sandra Bullock is the marquee-name star chosen to headline the film as Scarlet Overkill, the super-villainess kitted out in an array of dresses that also serve as booster rockets and who’s out to prove being a flashy career criminal isn’t just a guy’s game. She’s fine, but nowhere near as charismatic and entertaining as Steve Carell before her, and it is evident that she’s not a seasoned voice actress. Playing Scarlet’s laconic husband, Jon Hamm puts more effort into transforming his voice, but it’s not an especially memorable performance. Michael Keaton and Allison Janney voice a couple who let Kevin, Stuart and Bob hitch a car ride to the villain convention; it’s little more than a cameo.

            It’s an animated film containing popular, easily-marketable critters and it’s being released during the summer holidays, so of course Minions is going to do well at the box office. It’s mostly pleasant enough, sometimes annoying but never outright cringe-inducing and it moves along at a decent clip. Because of the inherent simplicity of the Minions as characters and the fact that they have to carry this movie on their little yellow shoulders, this lacks the crucial emotional backbone present in the first Despicable Me film. Kevin, Stuart and Bob may be designed to be analogues for Margo, Edith and Agnes, but they just can’t replace the heart that the three girls and their emotional connection to their adoptive dad bring to the franchise.

Summary: Yes, the tykes will love it and the accompanying adults might find some tidbits hidden in the 60s setting, but Minions can’t transcend its function as a cash grab vehicle.

RATING: 3 out of 5 Stars

Jedd Jong  

Philomena

For F*** Magazine

PHILOMENA

Director: Stephen Frears
Cast: Judi Dench, Steve Coogan, Barbara Jefford, Sophie Kennedy Clark, Michelle Fairley, Anna Maxwell Martin
Genre: Drama
Run Time: 94 mins
Opens: 13 February 2014
Rating: NC-16 (Some Sexual References)

At the 71st Golden Globe Awards, in the midst of the expected movie stars, Hollywood big-wigs, filmmakers and entertainers was an 80-year-old Irish woman completely foreign to the world of the Tinseltown glitterati. Philomena Lee was brought on stage by star/co-writer Steve Coogan as Coogan introduced the film that tells her remarkable story, based on Martin Sixsmith’s book The Lost Child of Philomena Lee.

Coogan plays Sixsmith, a journalist who’s been fired from his government communications job and is contemplating the none-too-exciting prospects ahead of him: writing a book on Russian history. At a party, he meets Jane (Martin) who tells him about a secret her mother Philomena (Dench) has been harbouring for 50 years. As a teenager, an unmarried Philomena became pregnant and was forced by the Magdelene Sisters to relinquish parental rights to her son Anthony, who was put up for adoption and taken from her. Martin is initially dismissive of this “human interest story”, but as he gets to know Philomena and agrees to seek out Anthony’s whereabouts, he gets increasingly invested in her plight. Using his contacts as a journalist, Martin traces Anthony to the States; he and Philomena embarking on a quest in search of her lost child.

The Daily Mail has called Philomena “a film that’s left grown men sobbing” and this reviewer can attest to that. The film has attracted a degree of controversy for its depiction of the Roman Catholic Church’s practise of forced adoptions at the time but at its core, it is a heart-rending, sincere portrayal of a mother’s love and of the unbearable anguish any mother would feel from being separated from her child. The more jaded might worry that this would result in the film turning into a schmaltzy gloop, but the superbly-written Oscar-nominated screenplay by Jeff Pope and Coogan tempers this with a judicious sprinkling of sardonic wit, keeping the film’s tone consistent throughout.

There certainly are embellishments and some artistic license is taken with the material – for example, Martin confronts a nun who, in real life, died long before Martin knew about Philomena. However, director Stephen Frears (of The Queen fame) ensures the film stops a safe distance of being emotionally manipulative, allowing the drama of any given moment to flow naturally. Flashbacks are given appropriate period detail, a good portion of the film is set in Washington, D.C. and all of it is gorgeously lensed by cinematographer Robbie Ryan, lending geographical and historical scope to Philomena and Martin’s mission. Alexandre Desplat’s soundtrack, playful at times and weighty at others, is excellent even if the main theme bears more than a few similarities to Desplat’s work on Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.

Dame Judi Dench more than earns her seventh Oscar nomination, playing the title character as endearingly gauche but also expertly conveying the deep yearning for a reunion with her long-lost son. She also admirably battled deteriorating eyesight and memory while working on the film. Today, Dench may be best-known as James Bond’s no-nonsense boss M, but in Philomena she exudes warmth and geniality, sometimes naïve but always well-meaning. Much of both the humour and drama in the film is derived from the collision (it’s more of a bump, really) of the forgiving, pious Philomena and the world-weary Martin who has long since forsaken his Catholic faith. There is an “aw shucks” quality to seeing how delighted Philomena is at the hotel breakfast buffet or the enthusiasm with which she regards a silly comedy flick available as an in-room movie. But Dench, skilled performer that she is, ensures the audience never forgets the pain that Philomena was so cruelly subjected to in her youth, and Sophie Kennedy Clark’s portrayal of the young Philomena in the flashbacks is also commendable.

Steve Coogan, well-known in the U.K. for his character Alan Partridge and for the celebrity impressions in his stand-up comedy routines, is the co-writer, co-star and co-producer on Philomena – with many other actors, this could easily become a blatant vanity project, but it’s definitely not the case here. The deadpan cynicism that Coogan provides as Martin Sixsmith serves as an effective counterpoint to Philomena’s sweet, idealistic worldview and given how much Philomena had to endure, she has the right to be mad at the world more than Martin does. The relationship between Philomena and Martin unfolds believably, starting out as very much a journalist-subject deal but developing to the point where Martin’s righteous indignation at the situation eventually outstrips Philomena’s, who was never really angry to begin with.

Through the point of view of a likeable protagonist, Philomena looks at the injustice of the Magdelene asylums and the lingering, painful impact it has had on the “fallen women” whose children were sold to the highest bidder; its comments on faith and prejudice well thought-out, the film never coming across as hateful, hysterical, angry or vitriolic. It also touches on themes of belonging and identity – there’s a clever scene built around the motif of a Celtic harp. Philomena is moving, entertaining, thought-provoking and funny in equal measures. We’re sure that Philomena Lee is honoured to see her story given such sublime treatment.

Summary: Boasting wonderful lead performances and a screenplay which expertly handles a moving true story, the search for the lost child of Philomena is a quest everyone should embark on.

RATING: 4.5 out of 5 Stars

Jedd Jong