Yesterday (2019) Review

Time: 116 Minutes
Age Rating: Offensive language
Cast:
Himesh Patel as Jack Malik
Lily James as Ellie Appleton
Kate McKinnon as Debra Hammer
Ed Sheeran as himself
Director: Danny Boyle

Jack Malik (Himesh Patel) is a struggling singer-songwriter in an English seaside town whose dreams of fame are rapidly fading, despite the fierce devotion and support of his childhood best friend, Ellie (Lily James). After a freak bus accident during a mysterious global blackout, Jack wakes up to discover that The Beatles have never existed. Performing songs by the greatest band in history to a world that has never heard them, Jack becomes on overnight sensation with a little help from his agent.

I heard about this movie for a little while, what I knew was that it involved The Beatles and had Lily James. It feels like a strange movie for Boyle to make, yet from the trailers seemed like a simple but fun movie to watch. Having seen it, it’s definitely not one of his better movies, and it doesn’t even have the same energy displayed in the trailer. Yet it is enjoyable for what it is, I had a good time watching it.

Yesterday isn’t really great and has some issues. There isn’t a lot of depth given to the story, though I wasn’t expecting much really. As it turns out, The Beatles aren’t the only thing that disappeared from history. With that said, there is no explanation as to why they disappeared from existence, nor is there any explanation for why the main character is like the only person to remember them. The movie also doesn’t really take advantage of the premise, it’s like you could swap The Beatles with any iconic music group like Queen or The Rolling Stones, and would basically get the same effect, outside of some different references. It’s very clear that the romance is the focus, and in that most of the movie works fine enough, it’s just that it feels very familiar and simple. The movie certainly works a lot better when viewed as a romantic comedy, so definitely go into it expecting that. It’s got a light tone and is perfectly watchable, though at a little under 2 hours feels slightly long.

Most of the cast play their roles very well. Himesh Patel is the lead in this movie, I’ve never seen him in anything else and this appears to be a breakout role for him, he plays the role really well. Lily James shines as always, the two of them share good chemistry, though we don’t really see enough of them together. Ed Sheeran is in the movie as himself for more than just a cameo, he’s actually a noticeable part of the plot. Let’s just say that if you don’t like him then I don’t think you’ll like the amount of screentime that he gets. Kate McKinnon’s character is a very cartoonish agent who’s only interested in money and all that, but McKinnon elevates the role quite a bit and manages to make her work and genuinely entertaining whenever she’s on screen.

Danny Boyle is directing, and you really get the feeling that he’s really limited by the whole romantic comedy genre. It’s about as well directed as it could possibly be and he does his best to add some of his style to the movie. We only get like brief scenes focussing on the music but when it’s there it’s good as expected, it’s The Beatles after all.

This isn’t among Danny Boyle’s best movies, it really doesn’t take advantage of its entertaining premise as much as it could’ve and doesn’t do quite enough to make it stand out among the rest of the genre. However, if you like a light hearted romantic comedy, Yesterday is worth giving a watch. Boyle does the best with what he has, and both Patel and James are likable leads. Just don’t expect much more than that.

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Ghostbusters (2016) Review

Time: 116 Minutes
Age Rating: Coarse language & some scenes may scare very young children.
Cast:
Melissa McCarthy as Dr. Abigail “Abby” Yates
Kristen Wiig as Dr. Erin Gilbert
Kate McKinnon as Dr. Jillian “Holtz” Holtzmann
Leslie Jones as Patricia “Patty” Tolan
Chris Hemsworth as Kevin Beckman
Neil Casey as Rowan North
Director: Paul Feig

Following a ghost invasion of Manhattan, paranormal enthusiasts Erin Gilbert (Kristen Wiig) and Abby Yates (Melissa McCarthy), nuclear engineer Jillian Holtzmann (Kate McKinnon), and subway worker Patty Tolan (Leslie Jones) band together to stop the otherworldly threat.

The Ghostbusters reboot had been a divisive film upon its trailer’s release. I had no idea how this film would be, it looked honestly horrendous from the marketing. In the end I finally watched the movie, to see for myself what it is like. Ghostbusters 2016 wasn’t good but it wasn’t a disaster either. It wasn’t really that funny, the characters are poorly written and the script overall wasn’t good. At the same time though, it wasn’t painful to watch. Very disappointing however.

The movie isn’t really boring, it’s very easy to follow and it doesn’t get dull. However the story is still not that well written. The characters are clichéd, the story is so basic (it’s impossible to spoil this movie), there’s nothing really great about the movie. The comedy is very different from the original. The original’s comedy was a lot more sarcastic and the characters played it more straight, this movie however was more out there and over the top. A lot of the comedy is Adam Sandler comedy, and that’s never a good thing. There were some mildly amusing moments but that was it. It’s frustrating, the movie had a lot of talent but it’s not used well at all.

There isn’t any chemistry between the Ghostbusters. These actresses are talented but the film may as well have had Adam Sandler, Rob Schneider, Kevin James and Tyler Perry in their roles (it’s not quite that bad though). The actresses aren’t really bad in this movie, it’s just that they are only as good as their writing. All of them are extremely over the top. The person who comes across as the funniest between the 4 is Kate McKinnon. Chris Hemsworth is the only other actor who manages to produce some comedy. However he plays literally the dumbest character I’ve ever seen in a movie. Like, mental condition level. It was a weird decision. Maybe it was because they needed to make the Ghostbusters look less dumb in comparison, because honestly they do some really stupid things throughout the movie, I don’t buy for a moment that they are even close to being competent, no matter how hard the script tries to make it seem that way. Also the villain is terrible, it’s literally a janitor who in his first scene says his motivation and plan, which is to destroy the world because he hates everyone. The actor (Neil Casey) does his best but he’s got nothing to work with. Also as for the cameos of the cast from the original, absolutely forced and painful.

The special effects for this movie were hit or miss. Sometimes it was fine, other times it was really bad and odd looking. The third act had horrendous green screen, it was kind of embarrassing. The colours also are really bright and neon like, I’m not sure if that was a good decision or not. Also I want to add that the remixed new version of the Ghostbusters is absolute garbage.

Ghostbusters 2016 is not one of the worst things ever made. The film wasn’t boring and some of the jokes worked (mostly from McKinnon and Hemsworth). However this is still disappointing. It could’ve been a lot better, they had a great comedic cast and a great comedic director, this should’ve worked perfectly. However it just ended up being a mediocre movie. This instalment is planning on having sequels and I don’t think I’m that interested in sequels if it’s going to be anything like this film. However, if you are curious enough, check it out.