gayga (2127 KP) rated The Dead Zone (1983) in Movies
Dec 11, 2017
Looking at it now after watching a vast variety of his movies, it's nice to see him play a sympathetic character, a bit of a loser even.
The film is slow in places but stick with it. The meeting between Johnny and Martin Sheen's character is literally to die for!!!
Californication - Season 1
TV Season Watch
A novelist battles writer's block and a weakness for drugs, booze and sex while struggling to make...
Chris Hooker (419 KP) rated Johnny Graphic and the Etheric Bomb in Books
Jan 12, 2018
As a teacher who just spent the past three weeks teaching about the making of the atomic bomb this book seemed to parallel that with a 'ghostly' twist. (I know bad pun.) I will be looking forward to reading book two. Also did I mention besides ghosts there are zombies. Highly recommended.
Cobra Kai Season Four
TV Season
Season 4 finds the Miyagi-Do and Eagle Fang dojos joining forces to take down Cobra Kai at the All...
Gareth von Kallenbach (968 KP) rated Johnny English Strikes Again (2018) in Movies
Jul 2, 2019
The movie starts with Johnny English as a geography teacher at a private school in the heart of England. What makes this a light-hearted and perfect entrance to the movie is that instead of teaching geography lessons, he’s teaching the kids how to become spies. Not only does this result in some very chuckle worthy scenes but it also shows us that Johnny still yearns to be back in the field even though he’s an exceptional teacher to the young spies-in-training. As fate would have it, a hacker has released the identities of all MI-7 agents around the world, so the only hope that England has is to call back retired agents. Reluctantly, Johnny is given the job and of course the hijinks start before he even heads out on his mission. In a very cute and refreshing twist on the usual high-tech spy movies, Johnny prefers his spy gear old school, so he turns down the smart phone and hybrid vehicle and instead requests a gun and picks out an old gas-guzzling Aston Martin V8. It was a very clever way to show that his mission wasn’t going to be anything like how Ethan Hunt would handle things.
This leads us to the plot of the movie. Johnny’s mission, with the help of his faithful sidekick Bough (Ben Miller), is to track down the signal where the hacker has been carrying out his attacks and thwart them before the G12 summit takes place. His first stop is to the south of France, where he encounters an alluring Russian spy named Ophelia (Olga Kurylenko) who is clearly working against him. What follows is a slapstick tale of numerous follies as the unlikely trio dance, drive, and crash their way to saving the world.
As you might expect Johnny English forgoes the crudeness and lewd jokes that are popular in comedic films these days and brings back a much more wholesome family friendly comedy. There is no cursing to speak of, no real violence, and except for the last scene it barely rates in the PG category at all. It harkens back to the late 80’s and early 90’s with similar spoof movies like The Naked Gun, where silly dialog and accident-prone heroes are what leads to the laughter. It’s a film that certainly does not take itself seriously and expects the same from the viewing audience. Some of the humor in the movie may elicit a groan from being that bad…but it’s usually so bad that it becomes funny. I found myself laughing a lot more than I expected to and I wasn’t the only one in the theater laughing.
To truly enjoy Johnny English, you have to know what to expect going into it. I can’t imagine there will be many (particularly those who have seen the previous films) that will have particularly high expectations, and that’s where it shines. It may not win any comedy film awards or be the best movie you’ve ever seen but you’ll go away happy. If you enjoyed the previous films, you will certainly enjoy this film as it’s not a huge diversion from the formula and provides the same sort of silly gags throughout. It certainly won’t appeal to everyone and that’s okay, but if you think you might enjoy it even a little, it’s definitely worth a look.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017)
Movie Watch
Johnny Depp returns to the big screen as the iconic, swashbuckling anti-hero Jack Sparrow in the...
Blindspot - Season 1
TV Season
A vast international plot explodes when a mysterious Jane Doe is discovered in Times Square, covered...
What Doesn't Kill You...: My Life in Motor Racing
Book
Johnny Herbert was one of the most brilliant natural talents to emerge in motor racing, but for all...