RIP IT UP MOVIE CLUB: Johnny English Reborn, Footloose, Real Steel

Hey film buffs

I’ve gone for a bit of a nostalgia trip for this week’s Rip It Up Movie Club, as I take a look at three films to send you back down memory lane over the past five decades.

First up is the long awaited sequel to a spy-comedy hit from 2003, then we set our DeLorean for the decade that style forgot to look at the remake of a guilty pleasure from the 80’s, before travelling all the way back to the 1960’s for Hollywood’s latest take on an old childhood plaything.

Enjoy!

Johnny English Reborn

While comedian Rowan Atkinson is perhaps best known to those of us from the other side of the century as the bumbling Mr. Bean, Atkinson has made his mark on a new generation with the stumbling spy Johnny English.

Taking place seven years after the original, the sequel sees the accident-prone special agent now living a life of obscurity in remote Asia, having slipped off the radar after his last escapade. However, his services are now required once again as a world leader’s life is under threat from international assassins and the unorthodox English is the only one who can stop them. One of the better spy-genre satires out there, the Johnny English films are great to check out if you’re a fan of the James Bond series or even if you’re just a fan of Rowan Atkinson’s style of comedy.

Johnny English Reborn is out on October 6th.

Foot Loose

From director Craig Brewer (Hustle & Flow) comes a 21st century remake of the 1980’s dance classic Footloose. For those uninitiated, the original film, which launched actor Kevin Bacon into stardom, features a city boy, Ren (Bacon), who shifts out into a small rural town where he struggles to adapt to the contrast of culture.

The suave city slicker soon finds himself at odds with the iron-fisted rule of the local minister (brilliantly played by John Lithgow), who has condemned dancing and rock music, when he stands up to oppose the local ban, so as to reinvigorate the spirit of the repressed townspeople in time for prom.

Of course, complications ensue when Ren finds himself falling for the minister’s daughter (Lori Singer). This remake appears to have retained all the key elements of the original (it’s too easy to imagine this film given an urbanized treatment) which should keep fans of the original happy, although the new cast just doesn’t inspire confidence in its ability to create the chemistry needed to replicate the charm of it’s source material.

Replacing the charismatic Kevin Bacon, Lori Singer and John Lithgow respectively are newcomers Kenny Wormald (You Got Served), Julianne Hough (Burlesque) along with veteran actor Dennis Quaid (G.I. Joe). Whilst you’d expect Quaid to pull his weight in the “angry minister” role, surely you’d have been better served finding two newcomers whose portfolio boasts more than being dancers in You Got Served and Burlesque.

While fans of the High School Musical series will probably be delighted by this (bad acting clearly doesn’t phase them), fans of the original might want to enter with caution… they might be walking into a butchery.

Footloose is out on October 6th.

Real Steel

We’ve already seen big screen versions of Transformers and G.I. Joe (with mixed results), whilst BattleShip looms ominously on the horizon, but the next big plaything to emerge out of Hollywood is… Rock’em Sock’em Robots.

First manufactured way back in 1964 (it’s actually quite surprising it has taken them THIS long to cash in on the brand), the blue and red robots having been rocking and socking each other for almost 50 years.

Luckily for us, those 50 years have produced the technology necessary to actually make this movie look pretty damn good (I shudder to think of what an earlier version would’ve looked like complete with Ray Harryhausen’s stop-motion effects).

However, a digital robot slugfest does not a film make (take note Michael Bay). Which is why it is a relief to see that director Shawn Levy (Date Night) appears to have appointed a strong enough narrative to hold the audience’s attention while the sparks and bolts are flying past.

The story features Hugh Jackman (Wolverine) as Charlie Kenton, a down-on-his-luck promoter in the futuristic sport of robot boxing, who finds out that he has an 11-year-old son, played by Dakota Goyo (Thor). When the two come across an old sparring robot, Charlie sees his chance to make it up to his son, and together they train the robot as they look to reverse Charlie’s fortunes.

With the Transformers series finishing off with a fizzle, Real Steel might just be the movie to revive the robot genre with a bang.

Real Steel is out on October 6th. 

By Shane Drought