TheRetroCritic

Despite 21 Jump Street being a surprise hit at the box office and even critically upon its release, a sequel cheesily called 22 Jump Street came as a complete surprise to most and the very idea sounded like a joke. And a joke it both was and wasn't. The charm of the original rested on two things: the likeable two leads and the tongue-in-cheek self-knowing humour which actually worked to make the film at least amusing. This sequel is fully aware of how pointless and absurd its existence is and it tries to have fun with it, which turns out to be a good move. Taking any of this seriously would have been a mistake to say the least. And so here we have 22 Jump Street, the bigger, goofier, slightly inferior sequel which prides itself on giving us more of the same, with a few add-ons. The result is a fun, silly little film which makes up for how random and unnecessary it is with more Channing Tatum/Jonah Hill buddy lols and some fun new (and old) jokes. This time, the undercov

This year, Martin Scorsese offered us a heavy, deadly dose of sex, drugs and money in The Wolf Of Wall Street , a film following the true story of dodgy stockbroker Jordan Belfort. It's the typical rise and fall tale except that the rise is ridiculously high and the fall is cushioned by a nice, big pillow filled with dough. Think Citizen Kane meets Scarface with a dash of Caligula . The film is fast-paced to say the least and drops you into this cocaine-infused spiral of debauchery and obscene wealth without mercy. Leonardo Di Caprio plays Belfort and, breaking the fourth wall every so often, tells us all about how he basically crooked his way into that lifestyle. The character is likeable yet also repulsive, not only because of his greedy, selfish and careless personality but because the idea of one douchebag was living it up thanks to some shady deals and phone-calls while so many were struggling to make ends meet is one that hits close to home these days. The reason why w

Mathematically, some films should be disasters and, indeed, many are. Here's one that somehow slipped through the cracks. Yes, surprisingly this movie remake of 21 Jump Street nobody asked for and nobody wanted is... not terrible. Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill are paired up as a jock and a geek who can't stand each other in school then grow up to be cops and best buds until they're put to the test by being made to go undercover back to school in order to catch a drug dealer who's been selling a fatal new product. Once there, they start thinking that maybe this is the perfect opportunity to set some things right since their original high school years were so dire. On paper, this is as obvious and tired as it gets: the whole back to school scenario, all the buddy cop cliches, yet the two leads are likeable enough that they pull it off. The script offers them loads of fun moments to work with and they make the most of it. The supporting cast (Dave Franco, Ice