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BankofMarquis (1832 KP) rated Night School (2018) in Movies

Oct 15, 2018

Funny...enough - especially the classmates

Both Kevin Hart and Tiffany Hadish are comedic performers that can wear their welcome out if they are not reigned in properly. They both serve best as the comic "2nd banana" of a film, rather than the lead, so it was with some trepidation that I checked out the Hart/Haddish starring comedy NIGHT SCHOOL and when the first meeting of the two was the both of them running their very fast mouths at each other, I thought - for sure - that they would wear their welcome out with me.

But a funny thing happened on the way to Night School - the focus of this film veered away from these two bantering with each other and settled into a fairly funny, fairly innocuous comedy that I walked away liking.

Directed by Malcolm D. Lee (GIRLS TRIP), Night School stars Hart as a High School drop-out who is now a motor-mouthed salesman who loses his job and just might lose his girl if he doesn't go back and get his GED so he can land a new job. Haddish stars as the teacher of the Night School. Both the leads are used sparingly enough that they were enjoyable participants in this film.

But for me, the strength of this film comes in the rogues gallery of comedians that were brought in to play the other students in the Night School. Rob Riggle, Mary-Lynn Rajskub, Romany Malco, Fat Joe and Al Madrigal are all winning and comforting strengths of this film as the adult "Breakfast Club" that fall under the spell - and direction - of Hart's character. It is a group that I loved spending time with and wouldn't mind spending more time with.

And I'm glad they are there for the Direction, plot twists and other characters are all pretty predictable, but they made it an enjoyable enough romp that I fall on the side of recommending it - especially if you are looking for a mindless comedy that will NOT require you to break into a discussion group afterward. A good "Netflix", rental or rainy afternoon on TBS comedy.

Letter Grade: B-

6 (out of 10) stars and you can take that to the BankofMarquis

Kudos

Darren (1599 KP) rated Unnatural (2015) in Movies

Oct 24, 2019

Unnatural (2015)

2015 | Action, Horror, Mystery

4.0

(1 Ratings)

Movie Rating

Characters – Martin is the expert in the area where the photoshoot takes place, he knows the wildlife and how to deal with any threats that come his way and must protect the people who are not used to the threat. Dr Lindval was part of the research team that created the polar bear, she is desperate to survive once it is free but does know more than she is letting on. Brooking in the photographer on the shoot, he does lack the guts to defend himself from the threat. We also have the models but they are here to look pretty through the terror.

Performance – James Remar is clearly the biggest draw in this film and he is good without being his best, when you look into the other performance we get the mystery from Fenn and the annoying wimpy guy from Carlson hitting the marks we are expecting to see in the film like this.

Story – Group of people in Alaska with no escape must rely on one expert to keep them safe against an unknown creature for a set amount of days, well this is easy enough to go with and stops a lot of pointless discussion about trying to get help when there isn’t any, we also have the characters getting picked off in the random order like you would expect which is fine too.

Action/Horror – The action is mostly running from the attacks from the creature which isn’t the most impressive either.

Settings – The setting is the highlight as we have the group trapped with nowhere to run for the 3 days before the next plan arrives.

Special Effects – The effects look mostly practical as we barely get to see the monster apart from in the shadows.

Scene of the Movie – The first attack is a fun moment.

That Moment That Annoyed Me – We don’t see enough of the creature.

Final Thoughts – This is a forgettable creature feature that tries to ask bigger questions but doesn’t seem to want to try and answer them.

Overall: Not one of the best.