Melissa McCarthy
Dazzling and wondrous, The Little Mermaid makes a solid transition to become a part of Disney’s live-action world of remakes.
A woman adjusting to life after a loss contends with a feisty bird that’s taken over her garden — and a husband who’s struggling to find a way forward.
In a world where supervillains are commonplace, two estranged childhood best friends reunite after one devises a treatment that gives them powers.
Even with a few decent set-pieces and exceptional acting from the ensemble, The Kitchen is not the adaptation we deserve.
The wives of New York gangsters in Hell’s Kitchen in the 1970s continue to operate their husbands’ rackets after they’re locked up in prison.
A wry, bittersweet but profoundly affecting cinematic experience, Can You Ever Forgive Me? is an astonishing examination of loneliness and detachment.
With its clichéd and unoriginal plot, The Happytime Murders proves the era of puppets for adult entertainment may not be as effective as it once was.
Life of the Party may be one of the weaker comedies to come from Melissa McCarthy in a leading role, but it’s entertaining, pleasant and harmless enough to warrant your attendance if you’ve been taken by McCarthy’s previous work with Ben Falcone.
It would be to put it lightly that this film’s reputation preceeded it. After years of people theorising about another sequel to Ghostbusters (1984), naively deciding to overlook the fact that Bill Murray didn’t want to work with Harold Ramis again, and Ramis’ recent death, a new film was announced. The only problem was that noted comedy director Paul Feig was put in charge.
The figure of the action heroine in film has always been present to some extent, even looking back to some of the adventure shorts of silent cinema or the femme fatales of post-war film noir it could be argued that there were early incarnations of the action heroine that we recognise today. However, despite her presence as a figure across all genres and time periods, it has only been in the last few decades that we have really seen women taking centre stage in their own stories and action set pieces. Female led action films have rarely avoided criticism, such is the weight of expectation when women feature prominently in a genre in which they have more often than not been excluded or marginalised.
The marketing team for Paul Feig’s most recent film, Spy, should really reconsider their occupation: this was one of my first thoughts as the credits for the film rolled and I began to head for the exit. The trailers and posters for the film made it seem like little more than Paulina Blart:
Like many people, I was a great fan of Bridesmaids and The Heat, so it was likely that the newest film to pair Paul Feig and Melissa McCarthy would be right up my alley. Likely, but even I had my doubts over Spy. A spy comedy?
