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Blazing Minds (92 KP) rated Stan & Ollie (2018) in Movies

Nov 1, 2021 (Updated Nov 3, 2021)  
Stan & Ollie (2018)
Stan & Ollie (2018)
2018 | Biography, Comedy, Drama
Stan & Ollie is a beautifully produced movie and one that many fans of the comedy duo will enjoy watching as Coogan and Reilly play the lead roles with such passion that during the movie you feel as almost as if you are watching the actually Laurel & Hardy.

With the film being based more around the latter part of their career with them embarking on their final tour, we are introduced to the older Stan & Ollie, John C. Reilly looks great as Oliver Hardy throughout the movie as does Steve Coogan as Stan Laurel which all adds to the look and feel of this biopic work of wonder.
  
Stan & Ollie (2018)
Stan & Ollie (2018)
2018 | Biography, Comedy, Drama
Coogan & Reilly disappear into Laurel & Hardy in the gentle biopic Stan & Ollie (2019)
Focussing in on the twilight of their illustrious careers, “Stan & Ollie” pays tribute to the beloved entertainers by taking an affectionate and bittersweet look behind the scenes at their last great collaboration: a music hall tour of the UK while trying to pull together one last motion picture deal.

FULL REVIEW: http://bit.ly/CraggusStanAndOllie
  
Stan & Ollie (2018)
Stan & Ollie (2018)
2018 | Biography, Comedy, Drama
Contains spoilers, click to show
"That's another fine mess you've got me into …"

Drama based around what would become Laurel and hardy's swan-song around the UK in the latter part of their year during the early 1950s, this is impressively cast, with John C Reilly getting the part of Oliver Hardy down pat.

Less successful, perhaps, is Steve Coogan's portrayal of Stan Laurel, maybe solely because the actor is more familiar to me?
  
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Lee (2222 KP) Nov 20, 2019

I really liked this movie but I did also find it difficult to get past Steve Coogan and me thinking of Alan Partridge

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Nick Beaty (70 KP) rated Stan & Ollie (2018) in Movies

Jan 12, 2020 (Updated Jan 13, 2020)  
Stan & Ollie (2018)
Stan & Ollie (2018)
2018 | Biography, Comedy, Drama
A must see for Laurel & Hardy fans...
This movie is a funny, moving and heartfelt biopic of the great Stan Laurel & Oliver Hardy.

Director Jon S. Baird and writer Jeff Pope clearly have a great love for Laurel & Hardy and this shines through in Stan & Ollie. You can definitely see this film has been made with love and respect for the legendary comedy duo, which makes it a must see for Laurel & Hardy fans.

Steve Coogan & John C. Reilly are absolutely faultless with their performances. I have read a few reviews that don't really give Steve Coogan the credit he deserves for this role. For me he proves he is so much more than his Alan Partridge character that a lot of people can't seem to see past. Like the real thing it takes near on perfect comedy timing from both men to perform the routines and they do the original performances a huge justice.

To wrap things up whether you are a Laurel & Hardy fan or not this is still a very well made movie, with two exceptional performances from the lead actors. This should definitely be one to add to your watch list.
  
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Awix (3310 KP) rated Sailors, Beware! (1927) in Movies

Feb 24, 2019 (Updated Feb 25, 2019)  
Sailors, Beware! (1927)
Sailors, Beware! (1927)
1927 | Comedy
7
7.0 (1 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Rather weird early Laurel and Hardy movie, another one from pre-bowler days when they were not yet officially a duo. Stan plays Chester Chaste, a cab driver who finds himself shanghaied onto a trans-Atlantic liner; Ollie plays the womanising Purser. Also on board are a female thief (Garvin) and her husband, a midget who disguises himself as a baby (Earle).

Has a manic, screwball sort of feeling to it, which sort of makes up for the fact there's probably a bit too much going on and Stan and Ollie don't spend enough time together on-screen. The various scenes of Laurel with Earle are quite good, though, and the film builds up to a decent climax. Bonkers enough to be good fun.
  
Why Girls Love Sailors (1927)
Why Girls Love Sailors (1927)
1927 | Comedy
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Movie Rating
So-so Laurel and Hardy movie from the days before Laurel and Hardy even existed as an idea. No sign of the usual characterisations, bowler hats, or tit-for-tat; Stan plays Willie the winkle-fisherman whose sweetheart is abducted by the captain of a ship largely crewed by thugs and scoundrels; Ollie plays the unnamed first mate. Stan's plan involves a surprising amount of cross-dressing.


More of a curiosity than anything else, though I'm not sure I'd go as far as those suggesting this once-lost film would have been better off staying that way. It certainly lends weight to the suggestion that Stan was the more gifted comedian but Ollie was a more versatile actor - he still keeps doing those looks to camera, though. In the end, it's not outrageously bad, but mainly of historical interest.
  
Dirty Work (1933)
Dirty Work (1933)
1933 | Comedy
7
7.0 (2 Ratings)
Movie Rating
A cautionary tale of hubristic science operating beyond the constraints of morality, and poor health and safety standards too. Stan and Ollie's latest venture is sweeping people's chimneys for them; they pitch up at the home of mad scientist Professor Noodle who is working on a rejuvenation elixir.

Not quite one of the boys' first-rate shorts - obviously there is boundless potential in the notion of Laurel and Hardy as chimney sweeps (Ollie falls down the chimney, off the roof, etc, etc, while Stan destroys the interior decorations of the house), but the mad scientist plotline feels oddly grafted on and the concluding scenes are peculiar rather than funny. First two-thirds makes the film more than worthwhile, though.
  
Stan & Ollie (2018)
Stan & Ollie (2018)
2018 | Biography, Comedy, Drama
Laurel & Hardy were one of the world's greatest comedy duos to ever step, or stumble, rumble, and dance rather, in front of audiences. I'll be honest, I've never really watched a lot of their work, I was always more of an Abbott and Costello guy myself, but you don't have to know or love their work to love this movie. Stan & Ollie gives a beautiful look into the real lives of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy at the end of their career. Their friendship and career, often like the hats on their heads, had its ups and downs, but they had a true chemistry and bond that could not be broken; whether their wives liked it or not. Steve Coogan and John C. Reilly each give one of their best performances to date. And a huge tip of the hat to the special effects, makeup, and costuming department of this film. What are you waiting for? Don't make me give you a swift kick to the butt to dance away and add this to your watch list.
  
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Awix (3310 KP) rated Busy Bodies (1933) in Movies

Feb 17, 2019 (Updated Feb 17, 2019)  
Busy Bodies (1933)
Busy Bodies (1933)
1933 | Comedy
9
9.0 (2 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Either an ironic commentary on the alienation of modern man and the dehumanising effects of modern production techniques, or two idiots in bowler hats smashing everything up by accident. The usual miraculous Laurel and Hardy alchemy is in play, manifesting in the duo's ability to milk a joke longer than is surely humanly possible - on this occasion with the 'walking into a plank' bit and the extended sequence in which Ollie gets a paintbrush glued to his chin and Stan has the job of removing it.

One of the pair's denser, more relentless comedies in terms of jokes, most of them good ones - the indiscriminate property damage is also more extravagantly spectacular than in many of their films. Written by Stan, but as ever the magic is in the two of them together.
  
The Live Ghost (1934)
The Live Ghost (1934)
1934 | Comedy
6
6.0 (1 Ratings)
Movie Rating
Okay mid-period Laurel and Hardy short. Stan and Ollie are hired by regular antagonist Walter Long to help kidnap men to crew his allegedly-haunted ship; perhaps inevitably, they end up press-ganging themselves. Better not mention the ghost to the captain...
About as close to over-plotted as you can get with a L&H movie; some good stuff near the start but it gets a bit busy as it goes on - too much story, not enough slapstick. Concludes by recycling the (slightly gruesome) closing gag from the same year's Going Bye-Bye! Has its moments, but not as many as some other films from the boys.