![HUMANS - Season 1](/uploads/profile_image/6ac/b7030edb-38a6-4118-b263-557869b206ac.jpg?m=1522335971)
HUMANS - Season 1
TV Season Watch
In a parallel present where the latest must-have gadget for any busy family is a 'Synth' - a...
![Lost - Season 5](/uploads/profile_image/117/1d98f607-2e96-4f0b-8985-1a630cc1e117.jpg?m=1522336512)
Lost - Season 5
TV Season
Season 5 follows two timelines. The first timeline takes place on the island where the survivors who...
![HUMANS - Season 2](/uploads/profile_image/bc1/3de36d32-55ad-4a69-b259-a1f19ceacbc1.jpg?m=1522358700)
HUMANS - Season 2
TV Season Watch
Humans is a science fiction television series that debuted on 14 June 2015 on Channel 4. Written by...
![Twins (1988)](/uploads/profile_image/b40/91a9249a-1519-4f72-a8dd-23c08e0dcb40.jpg?m=1522332907)
Twins (1988)
Movie
Superstars Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito team up for twice the laughs in this hilarious...
![Conflict](/uploads/profile_image/e70/faac1406-6fef-4c51-8ef7-39dfa4beae70.jpg?m=1522336941)
Conflict
Andrew C. Fabian and Martin Jones
Book
Conflict, sadly, is part of our everyday life; experienced at home, in the workplace, on our TV...
![The Arvon Book of Literary Non-Fiction: Writing About Travel, Nature, Food, Feminism, History, Sexuality, Death and Friendship](/uploads/profile_image/45f/418243b5-09f6-46db-bd97-e6010c75845f.jpg?m=1522323949)
The Arvon Book of Literary Non-Fiction: Writing About Travel, Nature, Food, Feminism, History, Sexuality, Death and Friendship
Book
The Arvon Book of Literary Non-Fiction is an essential guide to writing in a wide range of genres,...
![The Autobiography of a Super-tramp](/uploads/profile_image/14c/df1bbdda-03f3-432e-be5e-254f1d90a14c.jpg?m=1522353863)
The Autobiography of a Super-tramp
Book
William Henry Davies was born in a pub and learnt early in life to rely on his wits and his fists -...
![40x40](/uploads/profile_image/0a7/1a16271f-2229-41e1-8992-647ffe04e0a7.jpg?m=1522328231)
Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2097 KP) rated The Sharpest Needle in Books
Feb 3, 2021
There is so much to praise in this book. The plot is strong and always keeps us engaged. It does get a little convoluted as we reach the climax, but as long as you pay attention, you’ll follow what is happening. Real people and fictional characters rub elbows seamlessly, and they all appear fully formed to us. I love watching for cameos. The news of the day impacts the character, and therefore us. Yet we also have talk about the films coming out during that time, which I enjoyed. This is more than a Hollywood mystery. If you enjoy historical mysteries, you need to read these books today.
![40x40](/uploads/profile_image/822/0215931b-8c77-447a-9fae-c372d4b3c822.jpg?m=1631718314)
Bob Mann (459 KP) rated Johnny English Strikes Again (2018) in Movies
Sep 28, 2021
So it was that 2003’s Johnny English was a refreshing novelty. Roll forwards 15 years (via 2011’s “Johnny English Reborn”) and the concoction needs… you know… actual JOKES.
For “Johnny English Strikes Again” is unfortunately a pretty lame affair.
The Plot
Johnny English (Atkinson) is retired from MI7 and living life as a Geography teacher at a public school. Aside from teaching them about sheep farming in Australia and magma, English delights in teaching his young pupils the tricks of the spy trade: “You’re looking particularly beautiful tonight”, with a twinkle and a vodka martini in hand. “You’re looking particularly beautiful tonight” repeats the class.
But the quiet life of English is about to end, since a cyber-attack has exposed all of MI7’s current agents and the Prime Minister (Emma Thompson) needs to re-hire a retired agent who is currently ‘off the grid’. But noone – friend or foe – is safe when the bumbling English and his faithful helper Bough (Ben Miller) go back into the field.
The Turns
As UK comedy professionals, Atkinson and Miller deliver their English/Bough schtick serviceably enough. The brilliant Emma Thompson though is woefully underused as a straight-woman, being asked to do little more than an exasperated Theresa May impersonation.
If you need a sexy and sophisticated femme fatale for a Bond spoof, what better than a real ex-Bond girl? So the extremely sexy and sophisticated Olga Kurylenko (Camille from “Quantum of Solace”) plays Ophelia Bhuletova, which sounds much funnier when pronounced by Atkinson. And a very good job she does too.
The Review
To emphasise the positive for a moment, the film is suitably glossy, which are table stakes for a spy caper like this or Austin Powers.
But the script by William Davies (who did the previous Johnny Englishes, but nothing much since “Reborn”) doesn’t deliver any real laugh-out-loud moments. My hopes were raised when the “pensioner interviews” happened and Charles Dance, Edward Fox and Michael Gambon turned up. Great, I thought… having the old timers play off Atkinson will be fun. But unfortunately they were nothing but cameos and (although one of the film’s comedy highlights) they came and went in the blink of an eye.
Elsewhere the film relied too much on a few running jokes: ostensibly the need for health and safety in MI7, where guns are rather frowned upon, given their potential to caused injury or worse. A ‘virtual reality’ training mission also delivers smiles but outstays its welcome.
The film is a first-time feature for TV-comedy director David Kerr.
Final thoughts
There are films which are wildly offensive. There are films that are just plain bad. This is neither: it is as Douglas Adams might have described it as “Mostly Harmless”. But to get any more than the rating I have given it, a comedy film has to make me laugh and this one failed miserably. It’s a watchable TV film for a rainy afternoon, but not worth heading out to the cinema to watch.