Red One
Halloween is well and truly over, and it's almost customary now for things to crank up for the Christmas holidays. With that in mind, Red One is the first festive-themed movie to kick the season off.
Reuniting Jumamji director Jake Kasdan with Hollywood heavyweight Dwyane Johnson, Red One is a family-friendly, action packed Christmas flick that's sure to ease you in gently to the seven week build up to the big day.
With tongue firmly in cheek, Kasdan knows not to take the premise behind Red One too seriously, and the main item on the agenda here is to wildly exaggerate every action movie cliché you can think of, and sprinkle it with just enough yuletide pixie dust to make it palatable.
The action sees the excellent J.K. Simmons play Santa Claus, aka Nick who, instead of being plump and jovial is actually fond of keeping himself in shape, thanks to a little help from Callum Drift, Nick's beefed-up head of security at his top secret North Pole base.
The preparations for the Christmas holidays are well under way, but things screech to a grinding halt when Nick is kidnapped by malicious forces in the dead of night.
With the clock ticking, Drift and his team can't afford to lose any time, and enlist a world famous tracker by the name of Jack O'Malley to help track Santa down.
The only problem is that Jack is actually on Santa's naughty list, and he's going to have to try stay on his best behaviour whilst investigating Nick's disappearance.
In the same way the recent Jumanji reboots played it loose and easy with the whole videogame-come-to-life motif, Red One takes the innocent Christmas traditions and folklore, and blends it with an action flick with cool gadgets, inventive monsters and plenty of slapstick.
It's hard not to enjoy the shenanigans, as Dwyane Johnson and Chris Evans rub each other up the wrong way and get into the kind of scrapes that leave them thoroughly battered and bruised.
If you're a sucker for Christmas flicks, and enjoy the kind of goofy action that Dwyane Johnson dishes out, then Red One is going to jingle your bells.
The Problem with People
A fish-out-of-water comedy that turns into a feisty family feud between long lost cousins, The Problem with People is a well-meaning little comedy that sees the excellent Colm Meany go head-to-head with the fabulous Paul Reiser.
Directed by Chris Cottam, The Problem with People plays up to the well and somewhat overused Irish and Irish-American stereotypes, and uses them to his advantage, thanks to a peppery and lively script that tries to push the boat out with these two warring cousins.
The premise is simple, Fergus, a twinkle-eyed octogenarian asks his son Ciaran to reach out to their long-lost cousin in New York to put an old family argument to bed. Reluctantly agreeing to make the trip to the Emerald Isle, real-estate tycoon Barry is soon welcomed into the community and made to feel at home.
But when Fergus dies, his last will and testament causes another falling out, and Ciaran and Barry find themselves at war.
A light and breezy little comedy with great chemistry between Meany and Reiser, The Problem with People is well worth a go if you fancy a few light-hearted giggles this weekend.
