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David McK (3372 KP) rated Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget (2023) in Movies

Aug 11, 2024 (Updated Aug 11, 2024)  
Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget (2023)
Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget (2023)
2023 |
5
5.0 (1 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Sequel to the late 90s/early noughties (edit: the year 2000, to be precise) family-friendly Aardman Animations flick, which itself was a riff on The Great Escape and starred a then-still-in-vogue Mel Gibson as the voice of Rocky the Rooster.

Here, Gibson is replaced by Zachary Levi, with the film set a good few years (decades?) on from the original, and with Rocky and Ginger now having a kid of their own and living - alongside the other escapees - on a remote island. Until such time as their kid goes exploring the mainland and has a run-in with a face from their past ...

Inoffensive stuff, by and large - although parts (specifically the 'Stepford Wives' collaring/mind control bits - might be a bit too strong for the younger ones in the audience!
  
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BankofMarquis (1832 KP) rated Shaft (2019) in Movies

Jun 18, 2019  
Shaft (2019)
Shaft (2019)
2019 | Action, Crime
4
5.7 (24 Ratings)
Movie Rating Watch
Bland, boring and uninteresting
Were you the one clamoring for a sequel to the year 2000 Samuel L. Jackson SHAFT (the sequel to the original 1971 Richard Roundtree SHAFT)? Did you remember there WAS a 2000 version of SHAFT? Do you remember the 1971 SHAFT?

Doesn't matter.

The makers of this film certainly don't remember those films for - besides casting Jackson and Roundtree - there is no similarity to either of these films.

The first SHAFT was a Blacksploitation film starring Roundtree with mucho gunfire and bloodshed and SHAFT 2000 (as I'll call it) is a full on action flick with Jackson as Roundtree's nephew fighting crime. SHAFT 2019 is none of these - the Samuel L. Jackson Shaft is now the SON of Richard Roundtree and partners with his son JJ ,John Shaft, Jr. (played by Jessie T. Usher) to investigate the death of his friend.

Okay...fine. I can forgive the change in tone and the "tweak" (I'm being generous) to the timeline. What I can't forgive is the weak script (why write any good, or interesting, dialogue when we can have all of the characters say Samuel L. Jackson's signature motherf*^#er over and over) by 3 different writers (never a good sign) that were all, clearly, just in it for the paycheck.

Jessie T. Usher (he played Will Smith's son in the also ill-advised sequel to INDEPENDENCE DAY) is a bland lead with no gravitas and no swagger that starts out young and naive and is supposed to develop (under the tutelage of his father) street smarts but, really, just becomes annoying.

Regina Hall (GIRLS TRIP), Titus Welliver (BOSCH), Method Man (!) and Luna Lauren Velez (DEXTER) are all sleepwalking through underwritten roles just counting the minutes until they can take their paychecks to the bank.

At the heart of all of this "missed opportunities" is Director Tim Story (RIDE ALONG) he directs this film like he has someplace else to be, never missing an opportunity to be obvious (for example, JJ's friend - Karim - who's death sparks what passes for a plot in this film - might as well be walking around with a "Dead Man Walking" sign on him). Story's direction is lazy (and that's doing injustice to the word lazy) and obvious with no spark of ingenuity or imagination to be found.

And then there's Samuel L. Jackson as SHAFT. He defines the term "sleepwalking through the picture" looking bored and uninterested throughout and HE'S THE BEST THING IN THE FILM! Thank goodness his charisma and charm ooze out of him without really trying - for he didn't really try here.

Save 2 hours of your life - skip SHAFT - you'll be glad you did.

Letter Grade: C

4 Stars (out of 10) and you can take this to the Bank(ofMarquis)