Film Review: Going In Style

"Worst Comes To The Worst, We Get Caught, We Get A Bed, Three Meals A Day, And Better Health Care Than We Got Now..."

From the trailers of Going In Style alone, the narrative for such a film could be concluded as a crime-centred comedy featuring classic and well-respected actors, all of whom have won numerous awards for their respective art, most notable of which is of course the esteemed Academy Award, which focuses upon a narrative of elderly trials and tribulations with the ultimate endgame being a resort to criminal activities. Sound familiar? Oh yeah, particularly with the inclusion of Alan Arkin in a leading role which of course links oh so heavily to the 2012 movie Stand Up Guys that it seems so redundant that a film so obviously similar in terms of narrative could be released only five years later, even worse so when considering Going In Style is a remake in itself of the 1979 movie of the same name. Alongside films such as Last Vegas and the widely panned release of Dirty Grandpa last year, the genre of esteemed acting money grabbing releases is once again rife within your local cinema chain, a chance to rejoice if ever there was one. With the release of Going In Style therefore, a movie written by Hidden Figures director Theodore Melfi and directed by Scrubs star Zach Braff, it comes as no surprise that Braff's movie is one which pulls no punches in terms of originality but as a whole is a surprisingly enjoyable piece of fluff which does no harm whatsoever and actually accomplishes something many contemporary comedy films fail to do; make me laugh!

With a leading trio in the form of Arkin, Caine and Freeman, the notion that Going In Style is the type of movie for each of the three to simply come in and pick up the cheque was indeed at the forefront of my mind throughout the course of the film's meaningful 90 minute runtime, yet unlike it's sibling this week in the form of Table 19, a similarly timed so-called comedy, Braff's movie is Annie Hall in comparison, with Going In Style not attempting to be anything more than a cheesy, throwaway geriatric-based comedy which lavishes in the charm and fundamental reliability of its' leading stars. Whilst the film's concluding act mirages into the sort of narrative that watchers of Hustle would be extremely snobbish at in terms of its' utter, utter silliness, Going In Style is a solid enough comedy to be worthy of entering your local cinema screen just long enough to appreciate how good Ann-Margaret looks for someone aged 75. Not exactly going in style come the end, Braff's movie is passable cheese and sometimes passable cheese is just good enough. 

Overall Score: 6/10

TV Review: Doctor Who Series Nine Episode Four "Before The Flood"

"Who Composed Beethoven's 5th?"

Beginning this week's latest episode of The Doctor's travels in time and space was an unusual change of atmosphere with the fourth wall being well and truly broken by Mr. Capaldi in a vein that heavily reminded me of John Normington in The Caves of Androzani when, after misunderstanding the script and stage direction, directly addresses the viewer with his lines, much to the enjoyment of both the producers and die-hard Doctor Who fans across the globe who all agree in coherence that Peter Davison's farewell was rather splendid indeed, with that scene in particular being one to remember. Although "Before The Flood" is not entirely in the league of classics that include "The Caves of Androzani", the concluding part of Toby Whithouse's two-parter definitely attempted to stir the brain-cells with more mind-bending timey-wimey action, a frightening, if underused, monster-of-the-week, and a final moment to ponder upon cemented around the confounding notion of The Bootstrap Paradox, a theory in which the fourth wall was shattered down and explained to the audience by the guitar-wielding Twelfth Doctor of whom we all are beginning to cherish and love.

If last week's episode upped the ante on the scares and solidified a focus on character development, aiming towards more of a direction of horror, then "Before The Flood" chose to replace such with full-out monster mayhem; think Aliens rather that Alien, with The Fisher King being a ominous presence from start to finish, who although seemed way too much of a physical threat for The Doctor and co, was defeated in roundabout fashion, linking back to one of the questions that was being asked right from the start of Whithouse's two parter; what or who is in the stasis chamber? Surprisingly, all of the remaining questions that were left hanging at the conclusion of "Under The Lake" were all dealt with in a satisfactory fashion, particularly the origin of The Doctor's ghost form and the real point of the creepy apparitions in the first place. Where the episode ultimately succeeded however, was the way in which the origin of the Bootstrap Paradox, in which the legend of Beethoven was well and truly questioned, fashionably attempted to cover all the holes opened wide by the timey-wimey nature of Whithouse's script, emphasised by the final shrug and smirk of the Doctor, who, like us, must have been pondering on whether his meddles in time and space actually do make sense after all.

Overall Score: 8/10