2020-2029, Film Review

Cocaine Bear (2023)

Posted on February 27, 2023May 14, 2025 by Martin: Through the Silver Screen

(C) Universal Studios, Lord Miller Productions and Brownstone Productions

Cocaine Bear – Film Review

Cast: Keri Russell, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Christian Convery, Alden Ehrenreich, Brooklynn Prince, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Margo Martindale, Ray Liotta, Matthew Rhys

Director: Elizabeth Banks

Synopsis: After a drug deal goes awry, a stash of cocaine is ingested by a black bear…

Review: There can be any number of factors when it comes to what could be used as a selling point for a particular film. Perhaps, it is the director, or it could be the lead actors, a particular genre, or the attachment of a particular studio. Yet, every once in a while, there comes a film where the appeal does not have anything to do with the talent in front of, or behind the camera. Instead, its unique selling point is based on a premise so absurd and ridiculously insane, and yet somehow is also in part a true story, it simply has to be seen to be believed. This is precisely the case for the latest film by Elizabeth Banks.

The year is 1985 and while attempting to carry out a drug deal, drug smuggler Andrew C. Thorton (Rhys) drops a stash of cocaine from a plane, which lands in the Chattahoochee National Forest in Georgia. It isn’t long before a considerable amount of the narcotics are promptly consumed by a large black bear, giving it a craving for the drug which threatens to be lethal for anyone who gets in its way. Local drug lord Syd White (Liotta) sends his fixer Daveed (Jackson Jr) and son Eddie (Ehrenreich) to retrieve the drugs before they can be found by law enforcement, who have sent Bob (Whitlock Jr) to retrieve the drugs and apprehend White. Also in the mix are Liz, a local park ranger (Martindale), Sari (Russell), her daughter Dee Dee (Prince) and her friend Henry (Convery) who skip school to head into the woods, which could be a recipe for disaster, particularly when there is a cocaine-fuelled bear is on the loose.

**This animal can bearly believe these emotions she’s experiencing at this moment…**

The truth of the event is upon ingesting the large stash of cocaine, the bear died at some point afterwards, which would not have nearly enough meat on its bones for a feature-length film. Hence, the script by Jimmy Warden uses the central premise of a bear fuelled by narcotics as a centrefold for this group of people who have to negotiate just a little bit more than a big surprise for their journey into the woods. The screenplay attempts to give these characters some backstory to make the audience care about them. In reality, while it does provide this for some characters, it is thin at best for others. The film is self-aware enough to know what the audience is really here for to see a massive apex predator, on some Class A drugs, going on a rampage. Hence, its main goal is to get this group of people into a situation where they are forced to confront an enormous black bear off its face on cocaine and have them fight to survive.

With the surface-level development of some of the characters does feel intentional to a point as this enables Warden and Banks to have some fun with the brutality because, as Leonardo DiCaprio in The Revenant found, a bear at the best of times is hazardous. Giving it a penchant for expensive narcotics is only going to make things worse, and the film gleefully utilises this by turning the dial up with the gory nature in which some of these characters are picked off. The film walks a fine line between comedy and horror as despite plenty of moments which can be horrifying to watch, it offers up plenty of humourous moments, particularly when the titular bear experiences a comedown after the drugs start to wear off.

The CGI for the titular bear does look a little iffy in places. In addition, despite clocking in at a mere 95 minutes, the film does not feel as brisk as it should, and there are a few moments towards the third act where the pacing is also feeling the aftereffects and experiencing a comedown after the first two acts provided such hilarious antics. However, despite these minor nitpicks, Cocaine Bear knows exactly what the audience wants to see and it does exactly what it says on the tin/package/container/duffel bag from which the drugs were stored to deliver a ridiculously entertaining time at the movies which will leave you feeling high (pun most certainly intended) by the time the credits begin to roll.

The plot is undoubtedly as thin as they come, and the character development is minimal but, it matters not. The filmmakers understood the assignment and Cocaine Bear delivers exactly what you’d expect from its hilariously absurd premise.

2010-2019, Film Review

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019)

Posted on December 21, 2019December 21, 2019 by Martin: Through the Silver Screen

**Image is property of Lucasfilm and Disney**

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker – Film Review

Cast: Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Carrie Fisher, Adam Driver, Domnhall Gleeson, Anthony Daniels, Domhnall Gleeson, Richard E. Grant, Keri Russell, Kelly Marie Tran, Billy Dee Williams

Director: J.J Abrams

Synopsis: The First Order, under the leadership of Kylo Ren, seeks to consolidate its power following the deaths of Luke Skywalker and Leader Snoke. Meanwhile Rey leads the rest of the Resistance in a bid to restore peace in the Galaxy…

This review will be 100% spoiler free

Review: For over four decades, ever since a little film called Star Wars was unleashed on the world, it became this massive pop culture phenomenon, with an immeasurable, ever-lasting impact on the world of entertainment. Several times over the last few decades, we have seen this franchise take its supposed final bow. First came 1983, then in 2005, closing out the prequel trilogy after two lacklustre preceding films. Following Disney’s overtaking of the franchise, a new trilogy came into being. Four years since this trilogy blasted its way into existence, the time has come for it, and The Skywalker Saga, to take its proper final bow, in rather disappointing fashion.

Having lost instrumental figures following the events of The Last Jedi, both The Resistance and the First Order are seeking to take advantage of the power vacuum in the Galaxy and vanquish the other side once and for all. This galactic power struggle is thrown into further chaos when a mysterious entity, of a terrible foe long since thought to be dead, is threatening to unleash a new terror upon the Galaxy to ensure that the Dark Side will triumph once and for all.

It is not exactly news to anyone who has followed this franchise over the years that after The Force Awkakens chose to play things safe for the reintroduction to this franchise, The Last Jedi made some bold choices in a bid to try and take the franchise forward. In so doing, it caused an enormous divide among fans upon its release. Therefore having retaken the reins from Johnson, the onus was on JJ Abrams to steer this ship home, but it definitely hasn’t come home in one piece. The screenplay from Abrams and Chris Terrio feels very haphazardly put together, giving the impression that a slew of ideas were thrown at the wall and meshed together, which produced decidedly mixed results. Having managed to craft a pretty airtight script for The Force Awakens, it’s extremely perplexing how the script this time around is full of what feels like unnecessary side quests, consequently feeling rather unfocused.

What’s worse is that some of the dialogue borders on prequel level of how cringe-inducing it is. To add further insult to injury, the directions that some of the characters go in are just completely baffling, and in some cases, are borderline insulting. In the wake of the backlash that was directed at TLJ, all the promising potential that TLJ offered is firmly discarded. All the intriguing plot points put forward are retconned in favour of a script that just for want of a better word, was nothing more than pandering to try and get the fans back onside following The Last Jedi. Favouring appeasement of the fans over bold and creative storytelling feels like an enormous cop-out, and could set a worrying precedent.

This isn’t to say that the whole thing is a complete waste of time, as Abrams brings his usual visual panache to the direction and the lightsabre battles that are present are exhilarating to watch, and for all of the story’s faults, there was potential there. Yet, for all that technical marvel, nothing shown here remotely represents an improvement on what came before it, and everything feels completely inconsequential. Therefore credit where credit’s due as all of the principal cast do excellent jobs reprising their roles, in spite of the less than stellar material they were given to work with, all. The leading lights are once again, Daisy Ridley’s Rey and Adam Driver’s Kylo Ren who by far and away are giving the best performances in the film.

It’s fantastic to see Billy Dee Williams reprise his role as Lando Calrissian but he is frustratingly given sparse to do, and same goes for the rest of the new crop of supporting characters, none of whom are remotely memorable in the slightest, apart from Richard E Grant’s brilliant turn as a First Order officer. Completing the arc of General Leia cannot have been easy considering Carrie Fisher’s tragic passing. However, through the use of archived footage, which surprisingly fits into the story fairly seamlessly, credit can be taken for giving this beloved character a satisfying concluding arc, one that is not a slap in the face to the fans.

No matter what you feel about the preceding two films in in this franchise, they represented the opportunity for the franchise to go in some bold new directions. Thus, to see that all ultimately get thrown away in favour of the direction they did go in is extremely disappointing. For a franchise that has meant so much to so many people throughout the decades, everything was in place for Abrams to wrap up this trilogy in triumphant fashion, but unfortunately, stick the landing, it does not.

While offering some exciting moments, the Skywalker saga ultimately wraps up with what is, comfortably, the weakest film in the trilogy. A disappointment not felt in the galaxy since the days of the Prequel trilogy.

2010-2019, Film Review

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014)

Posted on February 12, 2015May 18, 2024 by Martin: Through the Silver Screen

dotpoa — **Image is property of Chernin Entertainment, TSG Entertainment and 20th Century Fox**

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes – Film Review

Cast: Jason Clarke, Andy Serkis, Gary Oldman, Keri Russell, Toby Kebbell, Kodi Smit-McPhee

Director: Matt Reeves

Synopsis: Ten years after the events of the first film as humanity has been devastated by the virus. The colony of Apes, led by Caesar are prospering. However, when a last batch of surviving humans resurface, tension resurfaces and it is poised to erupt into a war to establish control over the planet.

Review: Sequels, are seemingly ever-present in the world of Hollywood. Sometimes, they come along and disappoint, failing to top its predecessor, or nothing more than a cash grab. Yet when a sequel takes the first film and tops it, in many ways, it is something to be admired. 2014 showed itself to be the year of remarkable sequels. With the Matt Reeves-directed Dawn, a sequel to 2011’s Rise, we continue that great sequel trend with a beautifully directed and riveting story that will ensure that the Planet of The Apes franchise is not going anywhere any time soon.

With humanity obliterated in the wake of the Simian virus that was unleashed at the end of Rise, Caesar, once again brilliantly motion captured by Andy Serkis, and his crew of apes have their spot where they live. With a whole community established, it is enthralling to watch the apes interact with each other. They have their own language and their population is thriving. There are no humans about (or so they think) and all is right in the ape world. They live, and they prosper. This is, until a group of humans come along looking for something to help their population return to normality. Instantaneously, conflict threatens to break out once more between the two factions amid uneasy truces. Distrust is brewing in the ranks of both camps and it threatens to completely boil over into all-out war as there are those on both sides who simply do not trust the other. In some cases, these reasons are clear and in others, they are not.

Through the marvel of motion capture realised by WETA Digital, it is Andy Serkis in the role of Caesar who completely steals the show once again. His performance is incredible to watch, it is almost as if it is not brilliant computer-generated imagery and is actually a real life ape communicating with humans. He is the glue that binds the ape community together and he is the star of the show. The motion capture technology looks astoundingly for all of the ape community, with different actors playing different apes, and the different personalities of all of the apes shine through. Yet Caesar’s not the only ape who takes the limelight, the more hostile angry Koba, portrayed by Toby Kebbell is an ape on a mission, to eradicate humanity. He is vicious and angry and is determined to gain revenge on the humans. The computer generated imagery is flawless and it is a strong contender to scoop some awards for its breathtaking visuals in this year’s awards season. With great apes also come some interesting human characters, namely Malcolm (Jason Clarke) and Dreyfus (Gary Oldman) also come into conflict about what to do with the Apes. One wants peace, the other wants war, and it threatens to boil over at any given moment.

The action in this film is taken up a notch from the first movie, with some enthralling battle scenes. 2014 offered some sweet action scenes but some of the battles in this sequel are some of the stand-out moments of cinema in 2014. As the title poster illustrates, apes on horses is a sample of this brilliance. Under Matt Reeves’ masterful direction, Dawn provides a compelling and somewhat moving story about a fight to survive, mixed with compassion and a desire for both species to co-exist, whilst some factions of both communities strive for supremacy over the other. With a third film in the works, once again directed by Reeves and scheduled to be released in 2017, more Apes goodness will be on the way.