Tag: Ben Schwartz

Sonic the Hedgehog 2

Post author By Mark
Post date April 11, 2022

The original Sonic the Hedgehog film was a refreshingly uncomplicated, fun road-trip movie that knew exactly what it was. It didn’t shoot to directly adapt the stories of the video game series, but rather adapted the characters to a real-world setting and let the blue blur run wild with jokes and heart, in a way that was accessible for adults and kids, fans and newbies alike. This latest instalment ramps things up in typical sequel fashion; with more characters, bigger action and some questionable dance battles all thrown into a wildly entertaining, if somewhat inconsistent time at the movies.

Following his defeat of the evil Dr. Robotnik (Jim Carrey), Sonic (Ben Schwartz) is enjoying the spoils of victory, splitting his time between his loving adopted parents Tom (James Marsden) and Maddie (Tika Sumpter) and moonlight as a heroic, if slightly dangerous, vigilante speeding through crime across the country. With Tom and Maddie away on a Hawaiian vacation, Sonic is left to fend for himself, an easy task that takes a turn with the return of Robotnik from his mushroom-filled prison, alongside newcomer Knuckles (Idris Elba), a prickly red echidna with some shared history and a pretty big bone to pick with Sonic. Forced to team up with yet another new arrival – the technologically gifted, two-tailed fox Tails (Colleen O’Shaughnessey) – Sonic races against time to ensure that Robotnik does not get his hands on the infinite power of the legendary Chaos Emerald.

In keeping with the first film, the plot here is not the most original, boiling down to a series of MacGuffin hunts that follow your tried and true hero’s journey arc. Thankfully it mostly moves at a pace befitting of Sonic, save for a few drawn-out, uninteresting sections that shift the focus from Sonic and Robotnik to Tom and his Hawaiian antics; and while these are necessary to set up an emotional finale, they do take their time, no doubt causing some restlessness in younger viewers.

Where the sequel truly shines, similar to the first, is in its combination of heart and humour. The emotional changes Sonic and his pals undergo are simple but wholly effective in endearing the audience to them as they figure out their place in the world while fighting evil. Writers Pat Casey, Josh Miller and John Whittington are able to harness some extra goodwill this time around by emphasising the found-family aspect of Sonic’s relationship to not only Tom and Maddie, but also to Tails and Knuckles; a device you could argue is cheap and cheesy, but which never fails to induce an “aw” from the audience.

Then there’s Jim Carrey, who continues his rejuvenated, high-energy performance as Dr. Robotnik on a level that makes you feel as if you are watching him perform in his 90’s prime. The joke delivery and improvisation is so fast and hits so much of the time that Jeff Fowler simply lets Carrey run wild with his scenes, ensuring he hits the story beats while leaving everything else up to the comedic genius. Robotnik almost rivals Sonic for screen time this time around and it’s a good thing too, with James Marsden and Tika Sumpter’s characters reduced to little more than filler as the series begins to flesh out its world with more complex elements from the game franchise.

The introductions of Elba’s rage-filled Knuckles (reminiscent of Dave Bautista’s Drax in Guardians of the Galaxy) and Colleen O’Shaughnessey’s timid but brilliant Tails are welcome counterpoints to the brash confidence of Schwartz’ Sonic, making for some excellent comedic banter as well as an interesting examination of Sonic’s place in the world and how he carries himself. It’s largely surface level, but a little extra depth in a film that also includes dance battles to Bruno Mars songs is always welcome for the adults.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is yet another delightfully light, enjoyable video-game movie in a genre famous for self-serious adaptations. It doesn’t shoot for the moon its loose retelling of the Sonic lore (perhaps to some game fans’ chagrin) and it is all the better for it, thanks to its talented cast of comedic powerhouses – led by Carrey and Schwartz – and while the film’s pacing at times falls behind the kind of blistering speed Sonic is known for, this is by and large another fantastic family film for kids of all ages. Stick around for the post-credits scene, it’ll have you racing to the inevitable sequel faster than Sonic himself.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 stars Ben Schwartz, Jim Carrey, Idris Elba, Colleen O’Shaughnessey, Tika Sumpter, Adam Pally, Natasha Rothwell, Shemar Moore, Lee Majdoub & James Marsden – In cinemas now.

8/10

Tags Ben Schwartz, Colleen O'Shaughnessey, Idris Elba, James Marsden, Jeff Fowler, Jim Carrey, Lee Majdoub, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Tika Sumpter

TV & Streaming Reviews

Space Force – Season 1

Post author By Mark
Post date June 4, 2020

Space Force is the latest offering from television comedy mastermind Greg Daniels, superstar creator of shows that frequently enter the discussion for best series of all time including Parks and Recreation, animated classic King of the Hill and the US version of The Office. With such a prestigious back catalogue, the hype that surrounded his latest military-centric workplace comedy was more than warranted. If that wasn’t enough, Space Force assembled an amazing array of comedic talent as development went on including series lead Steve Carell (who co-wrote the show with Daniels), Lisa Kudrow, Ben Schwartz, Jimmy O. Yang, Fred Willard and the incomparable John Malkovich. All these excellent pieces make it all the more disappointing when the final product is as bad as Space Force is. When you can count the number of genuinely funny or even mildly chuckle-worthy moments on one hand you know that your comedy isn’t doing its job and it seems that the writing is to blame here, with Carell and Daniels unable to really decide on what Space Force is supposed to be. Is it a kooky workplace comedy like The Office? Is it a political satire, as the series’ Trump-inspired title and premise suggests? The answer is somehow both at times but mostly neither, with the resulting product a hellishly unfunny slog to get through. Strap me to a chair and force me to watch all of Adam Sandler’s Jack and Jill on repeat for 10 hours and I’d have a better time than one episode of Space Force.

Right off the bat the show seems like a misfire in its intent. Cracking a joke about Donald Trump definitely isn’t a new concept and many shows and movies have been doing it since his election in 2016 – to admittedly mixed results – because while the man is a ridiculously easy target, jokes need to still hit the right notes with some finesse to stand out. Space Force lives and dies on the idea that Trump’s admittedly silly idea to create a new branch of the military dedicated to conquering space is the funniest and most ridiculous thing anybody has ever said, enough that they felt the need to make an entire show to prove to the man just how ridiculous he is (as if he’s not constantly watching replays of himself on The Apprentice). Carell and Daniels have seemingly been so swept up in the absolute hilarity of this practical joke that they forgot to give any thought to whether Space Force actually works as a show. Spoiler alert: it doesn’t. It’s not clear if the assembly of its fantastic comedic cast is simply to double down on the joke (let’s get one of the best working actors in John Malkovich to do something in this Trump roast) or whether they were all very interested in the idea. Either way, they’re all completely wasted. But I digress; let’s get to the plot.

Space Force revolves around Mark Naird (Carell), a recently promoted 4 star General who has been tasked with heading up the newest eponymous branch of the military. To the other branch heads (Jane Lynch, Patrick Warburton, Noah Emmerich & Diedrich Bader), Space Force is a joke, a mockery of the military that will surely be the downfall of Naird, but the man himself is determined to turn the ragtag group into a legitimate military force on par with the Navy and Army. Surrounding himself with a cast of colourful characters including Chief Scientist Dr Adrian Mallory (Malkovich), Mallory’s assistant Dr Chan Kaifang (Jimmy O. Wang), Head of Social Media F. Tony Scarapiducci (Ben Schwartz) and his trusty assistant Brad (Don Lake), Naird deals with the day to day problems of not only getting to and establishing a base on the moon and but dealing with constant advancements by rival countries China and India. Add to that the added stress of being a single father to teenage daughter Erin (Diana Silvers) since Naird’s wife Maggie (Lisa Kudrow) is in prison for an undisclosed reason and you have yourself a tightly wound man (and remember this is supposedly a comedy) who is in desperate need of shenanigans.

Unfortunately for Naird, those shenanigans are awful. It’s plain to just about everyone with a set of eyes and ears that Donald Trump is something of a deviant, but a 3 episode story arc about the President incentivising Mark to catch a spy within his Force by inexplicably denying him a conjugal visit with his wife is just overkill. There’s no subtlety to it at all and that applies to just about every joke. There’s a joke about all Asian people liking K-Pop; a joke about Trump’s dislike for the African-American community and a joke about people from the South having learning disabilities; and believe me, I use the term “joke” loosely. More often than not, the show just forces these jokes down your throat without a punchline or any comedic value at all: a man from Alabama speaks in a stereotypical drawl and says some stupid things, implying people from the South (AKA Trump supporters to the writers) are stupid. It’s offensive and crass and perhaps worst of all: not funny. It’s simply ridiculous that the man who co-wrote and starred in The 40 Year-Old Virgin has written jokes this unfunny. Hell, the conjugal visit storyline is almost a cut-copy of that film, with Naird being separated from his wife for 6 months. Give me old good jokes rather than terrible ones. Daniels also struggles to produce anything special too, with the man responsible for some of the greatest comedies of all time unable to crack a smile let alone draw genuine laughs here. Sure, the first seasons of both The Office and Parks and Recreation weren’t spectacular, but they at least showed potential, whereas I will (thankfully) never allow myself to view this atrocity again.

It’s clear that everyone involved can and have done good things, and that’s not to say that anyone involved here isn’t trying. It’s simply that the show’s premise is such a huge misfire and everyone was so smitten with the idea that they forgot to write decent characters or jokes. Malkovich and Ben Schwartz are really the only standouts to be found. Malkovich simply can’t do anything wrong and brings a dry sarcastic wit to the Chief Scientist, with his exhaustion at Naird’s incompetence almost a surrogate for the audiences complete disinterest in the show itself. Nevertheless there are a few moments that attempt to flesh out Mallory’s character and Malkovich pulls them off with ease, making you feel ever so slightly for him as he is constantly shouted down and generally mistreated. Schwartz, who is now the voice of the highest grossing video-game film icon Sonic the Hedgehog, is clearly drawing on his other Daniels’ created character from Parks and Recreation: Jean-Ralphio Saperstein. The man simply oozes energy and charisma and no amount of terrible jokes can stop him from giving his all in the delivery, creating a few laughs simply from his actions and general body language, rather than the words themselves. He is a huge boon to the series and is criminally underused in the first season, however I would much rather see him lead his own series than return for the (unfortunately) inevitable second season.

From the preceding words you may have come to the conclusion that I hate Space Force and I’d have to say you’re pretty close. It’s hard to pinpoint another comedy series with this much potential and hype which has misfired so totally, so completely, that I’d rather scratch my eyes out than watch another frame. Steve Carell has graced us with easily his worst performance here, right alongside the abysmal Dinner for Schmucks and Daniels has unfortunately broken that winning television streak he has spent years cultivating. If there is a lesson to take from Space Force, however, it is surely that your central idea needs to come from a place of genuine love for comedy and a desire to make people laugh; not to aggressively and badly roast a political figure in a way that only serves to turn people off your work, rather than a man who half the known world already despises.

Space Force stars Steve Carell, John Malkovich, Diana Silvers, Lisa Kudrow, Jimmy O. Wang, Don Lake, Patrick Warburton, Jane Lynch, Noah Emmerich & Ben Schwartz – Streaming now on Netflix.

Tags Ben Schwartz, Greg Daniels, John Malkovich, Lisa Kudrow, Netflix, Space Force, Steve Carell

Movie Reviews

Sonic the Hedgehog

Post author By Mark
Post date February 20, 2020

Hollywood has a long history of building films from video games, and it’s certainly not a stellar one. Taking characters and stories with huge existing fanbases should equal an easy win when it comes to throwing them on the big screen, but it’s rarely ever a successful mix. More often than not, the end result is a film that doesn’t do enough justice to the source material for fans, while also being too niche for wider audiences to get into. The latest to try his hand at breaking the mould this week is Sonic the Hedgehog, the infamous blue blur that has been synonymous with gaming for almost 30 years. Looking to bank on the somewhat surprise success of Pokémon: Detective Pikachu last year, Sonic aims to hit that nostalgic goldmine with a new origin story, big personalities and some flashy CGI. When all is said and done, Sonic the Hedgehog doesn’t quite run rings around the competition, though there is just enough there for him to get you walking, if maybe not running, to the cinemas.

The live-action adaptation is set largely in Green Hills, a fictional small town in rural California. Living secretly in the woods of the town is the titular blue hedgehog, having been stranded for years following a speedy (and somewhat bizarre) opening scene. Sonic (Ben Schwartz) claims to be ‘living his best life’ as he zips around town unseen, however it’s quickly clear that his many years in hiding have taken a toll. To combat his loneliness, he keeps close tabs on the town’s sheriff Tom Wachowski (James Marsden) and wife Maddie (Tika Sumpter) who – unknown to them – are his closest friends on Earth. Before too long, Sonic accidentally attracts the attention of the power-crazed scientist Dr Robotnik (Jim Carrey), spurring an unlikely road trip as Sonic and the sheriff try to outrun the mad doctor. The story is even more cliché than it sounds, with the heroes running through bar fights, car chases and a whole lot of bro talk along the way. It’s a very safe and predictable plot, which makes sense overall as you quickly realise that the film has a pretty specific target audience. Where Detective Pikachu managed to walk the line between pleasing both long-time fans and younger moviegoers, Sonic instead chooses to lean heavily into (not so) current pop-culture trends and jokes with just hints of nostalgia scattered throughout. Sonic is fundamentally the same character that we all remember, it’s just that now he pokes fun at Vin Diesel and spends a little too much time doing the floss.

Spicing up the hedgehog’s attitude and style isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and it certainly helps given that he’s the centre of attention for just about the entire length of the adventure. Sonic blitzes through jokes and dialogue like a kid on a sugar rush, with his loud and scattered delivery the polar opposite of Ryan Reynold’s more restrained and subtle performance as Pikachu last year. It all fits with the general Sonic vibe however, and his big personality blends with the zany action and plot spilling out around him. James Marsden’s character does fine with what he’s given as Sonic’s partner, however it’s a role built solely to prop up and guide Sonic to his next punchline or destination. The same can be said for many of the remaining supporting cast, who again offer up good performances despite the titular hero continuing to steal the spotlight. The only character that truly manages to challenge the star is Jim Carrey’s Dr Robotnik, who quite frankly lifts the film far higher than it otherwise would have been. Robotnik has been Sonic’s arch nemesis for decades, and Carrey seems to revel in the role following a recent break from notable big-screen appearances. He brings his trademark manic style to the mad doctor, always teetering on the edge of insanity when on the hunt for Sonic, interacting with loyal right hand man Agent Stone (Lee Majdoub) or just turning in a bizarre two-minute dance sequence to the song “Where Evil Grows”. Robotnik is an old-fashioned, moustache-twirling villain that shouldn’t be nearly as interesting as the character Carrey manages to create, and his hits of madness are spread well throughout the film.

Also cropping up alongside the Doctor’s appearances are some of the film’s many action and CGI-heavy moments – each generally more explosive than the last. Everything from Sonic’s fur and quills through to Robotnik’s drones and gadgets have all been put seamlessly into the real world, allowing for some great and inventive scenes to come through. A solid example comes when we’re given Sonic’s point of view as he hits superspeed, watching as he moves through and plays with a world moving around him in slow motion. This is all in addition to the very successful ground-up redesign of the star hedgehog himself, following the now infamous initial preview of the film that tried to sell a human/hedgehog hybrid nightmare just last year. While the changes to Sonic ended up delaying the film quite a bit, they were definitely worth the wait given the result. In fact, the effects work is almost held back by its ties to real-world backgrounds, which add very little to the adventure as a whole. We’re given brief flashes at Sonic’s familiar, video game home which hopefully will be expanded on in the more-than-likely sequel down the line.

Sonic the Hedgehog is the latest challenger to attempt making the move from games to the big screen, and he manages to give it a solid swing. Sonic’s design and abilities have been handled with an amazing amount of care and detail, giving you enough to appreciate when his banter starts to dip. Pairing his large personality with Carrey’s diabolical villain really saves the film from growing stale, and Carrey gives his performance just the right amount of edge to be dark without turning off the younger audience. It’s this audience that will get the most from the movie, though long-time fans will appreciate the hero’s design and fleeting nostalgic nods scattered throughout the lackluster, paint-by-numbers story. It may not be the event that finally brings film and games together, but Sonic the Hedgehog is a good bit of fun with some decent action, setting quite a pace for those to come in the future.

Sonic the Hedgehog stars Ben Schwartz, Jim Carrey, James Marsden, Tika Sumpter, Lee Majdoub, Natasha Rothwell & Adam Pally – In cinemas now.

Tags Ben Schwartz, James Marsden, Jim Carrey, Sonic the Hedgehog