Holmes and Watson (2018)

The ideas behind some of the sketches - because that's what this is, an overlong compilation of Saturday Night Live-style sketch-comedy routines featuring the recurring characters of Will Ferrell's Holmes and John C Reilly's Watson - often make you scoff with incredulity at their very outset - at the very notion - but then the sketch plays out a second longer (and for a great deal more time than that, usually) and your momentary scoff at the idea is quickly replaced with a feeling of dismay and weariness at these characters who in fact have nothing to do with Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson at all - and you hope Ferrell and Reilly enjoyed hanging out at least.

★☆☆☆☆

CINECAL: ONE SENTENCE REVIEWS

Wreck-It Ralph (2012)

There's a positive message in this Disney animation about the young and ostracised  breaking free from the expectations of others and determining for themselves their role in life but this message is buried in such tiresome, convoluted, made-up arcade game mythology, only the most undemanding of young viewers will find any enjoyment sitting through the story of Wreck-It Ralph, an arcade game bad guy who seeks a hero's medal and so ventures outside of his own game and into other game worlds.

★☆☆☆☆

CINECAL: ONE SENTENCE REVIEWS

The Lobster (2015)

Several analogies about relationships and singledom, each of momentary interest, are thrown together into one excruciatingly long, incredibly boring mess of a movie about love in a rigidly dichotomous future world; it plays out like a five minute comedy skit stretched to two (or was it three?) hours and for all its effort, offers very little in the way of meaningful relationship insights.

★☆☆☆☆

CINECAL: ONE SENTENCE REVIEWS

We Need To Talk About Kevin (2011)

Tilda Swinton's hair works overtime helping to keep the chronology of events clear (basically whether you're seeing tomato juice, red paint, or blood) in this choppy-changey Tree of Life story about a sociopathic boy and everything, in no particular order, from his conception to horrendous crime (of course his mother's fault - we've all seen Psycho and every serial killer movie since; this one based on a Lionel Shriver book).

★★☆☆☆

CINECAL: ONE SENTENCE REVIEWS