Ever since the 2019 remake of ‘Child’s Play’ was released, there have been talks of a TV series revolving around the titular killer doll. And, for fans who weren’t happy about the absence of the original cast and crew in the remake, fear not (or do) because the first trailer for ‘Chucky’ has been unleashed!
‘Chucky’ is a 10-episode series that will premiere on Syfy Channel on the 12th of October. Written by original creator Don Mancini, Brad Dourif returns to voice the possessed killer doll as he’s found in a yard sale by an unsuspecting teenager. As expected, the body count piles up as the small town is thrown into chaos.
When talking about horror franchises, this one always seems to be left out, which is a shame. This is one of my favourite horror franchises and one that doesn’t seem to have a bad entry (yes, I even enjoy 2004’s ‘Seed of Chucky’). And, despite enjoying the remake, I also understand Mancini’s frustration at Universal Pictures’ decision to make the film behind his back. A TV series is an unexpected, but very welcome, decision when it comes to continuing the franchise and, with eight films in the original series, the show knows exactly what fans want: tongue-in-cheek humour, interesting kills and Chucky’s rude and uncaring attitude. Overall, it looks brutal but a lot of fun!
Despite the new owner constantly keeping Chucky around, even in school, not making sense yet, I’m looking forward to ‘Chucky’. This will always be a franchise that I will happily return to, as it never disappoints me. I’m also curious to know what a Chucky TV show will be like; I only hope it’s available in the UK too!
‘Chucky’ premieres on the Syfy Channel on the 12th of October 2021.
Since cinemas have reopened, and film productions have resumed, I have decided to return to my previous weekly feature Trailer Talk. These were short opinion pieces on a newly released film or TV trailer…and what better way to re-introduce this feature than to return to the Jackass’ franchise for its fourth instalment!
‘Jackass Forever’ sees Johnny Knoxville, Steve-O and the Jackass crew return a decade later, to try out even more stunts, pranks and endure more pain!
When it comes to Jackass, what you see is what you get. I’ve liked the franchise ever since I was a teenager; it’s the visual representation of the phrase ‘humour can come from the despair of others’ and it seems to become more and more extreme with each entry. And, with this being around a decade later, it’s also great to see the crazy crew back.
As expected, there’s more stunts, pranks and injuries onscreen, as well as the occasional guests returning. This time that includes TV host and comedian Eric Andre and musician Machine Gun Kelly. The stunts also feel like an extension of previous ones; Machine Gun Kelly’s stunt involves a giant foam hand, which looks similar to the one in ‘Jackass 3D’, and the trailer opens with someone being fired out of a cannon, which was also seen in ‘Jackass The Movie: Number Two’.
Either way, it’s great to see the crew back for more mayhem, especially after eleven years. And, despite the gap in time, it feels like it’s only been a few weeks since the last entry, due to their close friendship and charm. Overall, welcome back!
‘Jackass Forever’ crashes into cinemas October 22nd 2021.
While ‘The Simpsons’ may have decreased in quality, I can’t help but continue to watch the specials that are still brought out. ‘Treehouse of Horror’, the shorts and the Star Wars specials are all episodes that I love, even if I’ve grown tired of the main show. And I have previously covered a Star Wars special, ‘The Force Awakens From Its Nap’, which I once again enjoyed. It was filled with references and great visual gags that the show is so well-known for. But, since Disney also own Marvel, it was only a matter of time until the superheroes that we’ve followed for the last decade cross over into Springfield.
‘The Good, The Bart And The Loki’ was uploaded to Disney+ on the 7th July 2021. The 5-minute short sees Loki (voiced by Tom Hiddleston) banished from Asgard once again and finding himself in Springfield where he teams up with the Boy of Mischief, Bart Simpson.
This short exists to celebrate the ‘Loki’ series and the Marvel Cinematic Universe by showing visual gags revolving around Marvel and even Disney themselves. A particular background gag pokes fun at the fact that Disney bought Marvel and Fox, so they were allowed to do this crossover which I particularly liked. Just because the Mickey Mouse company bought ‘The Simpsons’ doesn’t mean they’ll stop from joking about anything that they can get their hands on, including themselves, and I appreciate that.
Other jokes include Lisa being worthy of holding Thor’s hammer (because of course she is) and getting The Springfield Avengers together. These consist of Barney as Iron Man, Dr Nick as Dr Strange, Marge’s sisters as Wanda and Agatha, Moe as Vision, Ned Flanders as Antman, Ralph as Hulk and Dr Hibbert as Falcon. Loki also gets accepted into the Simpsons family, which he calls ‘functional’ while Bart is banished by Lisa. The fact that he calls the Simpsons functional says a lot about his own family!
And, when the credits roll, the jokes don’t stop. Jokes seen during the credits sequence are Comic Book Guy as Thor and doing The Snap, Homer trying and failing to pick up Thor’s hammer, Maggie watching Wandavision, Barney washing his Iron Man suit, and Ralph the Hulk smashing Loki in a re-enactment of ‘The Avengers’. There’s even an end credits scene where Loki is put on trial for violating Disney+’s rules about interdimensional travel into other shows (and stealing Goofy’s parking space!).
While there’s not much of a plot, ‘The Good, The Bart And The Loki’ is still enjoyable, especially for Marvel fans, and it’s great to finally see a Marvel/Simpsons crossover. Maybe the next crossover can be with Mickey Mouse and Goofy?
After watching ‘Monsters Inc.’ last week and finally watching Pixar’s latest film ‘Luca’ a few days ago, I have decided to dive back into the world of the Pixar shorts. They’re just as great and enjoyable as the feature films and manage to provoke a genuine reaction from me, whether that’s feeling emotional or happy due to the silly nature of the short. This week’s short belongs to the latter category.
‘Knick Knack’ was a short that was theatrically released in 2003, accompanying ‘Finding Nemo’. In this 4-minute film, a snowman on a shelf decides he wants to join the other summer ornaments and attempts to break out of his snow globe with hilarious results.
Like a lot of the Pixar shorts, this one doesn’t feature dialogue but, instead, pushes the humour and visuals to the foreground and lets them tell the story. And this short is fantastic and hilarious. The slapstick humour is perfectly illustrated and occurs whenever it can, but it doesn’t feel forced. The humour also comes from the snowman’s various attempts at escape, which become more and more ridiculous as the film progresses. As a fan of ‘Tom & Jerry’ specifically, this is actually one of my favourite Pixar shorts. It chooses a scenario as its narrative and runs with it, and it’s wonderful.
The animation is ok but, for the time that it was released theatrically, it’s not as impressive as the feature that it was placed in front of. But there is a reason for that. While I’ve put the release date as 2003, which was its theatrical debut, ‘Knick Knack’ was actually created in 1989.
The short was inspired by ‘Tom & Jerry’ and old ‘Looney Tunes’ cartoons, using slapstick comedy to tell the story. After Pixar created the 1988 short ‘Tin Toy’ and became frustrated with animating the baby in it, John Lasseter decided that he would step away from animating human characters and, instead, focus on creating characters that used geometric shapes as their base. Not only was this easier to animate, due to lack of detailing, but it was also easier to animate on the Pixar Image Computers, the computer that the company were trying to sell at the time. It even won an award for Best Short Film at the Seattle International Film Festival a year later. However, after creating the short, Pixar would then choose to focus on animating commercials, leaving ‘Knick Knack’ on the shelf for them to restore 12 years later.
‘Knick Knack’ is not only one of the earliest animated shorts that Pixar have created, but it’s also one of the funniest. While the animation is a little dated, due to it being created at a time when the company were still finding their feet, it’s hard to deny that it is hilarious. Slapstick humour speaks all languages and this, retrospectively, is an example of how good Pixar are even in 1989.
Ten years after the release of Pixar’s animated classic, ‘Monsters Inc.’, fans finally have a sequel, in the form of a Disney+ show. ‘Monsters at Work’ will be released on Disney+ on the 7th of July, and will be a 10-episode series. The show takes place right after the events of the 2001 film and sees a new recruit, Tylor Tuskmon, join the company just as the company overseas a huge change. Now Tuskmon must adapt to these new rules, replacing scares with laughter, and relearn everything he knew.
The first two episodes act as an introduction to the characters of the show as well as the state of the company after the events of the 2001 film. And, while Mike and Sully did save their friend and ‘save the day’, it makes sense that the running’s of the workplace would be affected by this huge change. By taking away the CEO and changing the overall set up of what Monsters Inc. does, the show immediately opens with chaos. The city is experiencing blackouts due to a reduce in energy, and it was already experiencing a shortage, as the 2001 film mentions, so this drastic change doesn’t help matters. But it also questions the stability of the current workers. With scaring now being replaced with laughter, humour and jokes, the top scarers are now struggling because they have to completely change their work performance. It’s interesting and eye-opening to see that not everything is going right for the company, and it makes sense that, with the drastic changes, Monsters Inc. has been flipped around completely.
What is pleasant to see is the original voice cast returning! Billy Crystal and John Goodman reprise their roles as Mike Wazowski and James. P. Sullivan, who are now the new CEOs of the company. Despite the minor appearances they make in the first two episodes, the voice performances are fantastic and demonstrate to the audience that these two actors still know the characters despite the decade long gap. The episodes also show how much the two friends have grown and that they may be a great fit as the new CEOs of Monsters Inc. after all. Their brief appearances in the first two episodes may deter fans who were expecting them to be the lead characters, but this aspect works for the story it’s telling.
The animation is the only critique so far. It’s not as good as the animation quality of Pixar’s usual work, but it’s ultimately fine for the show. The character designs, for the most part, have stayed the same which helps with the continuity of the series and the new character designs are unique and creative. Each monster is different and there isn’t a single one that looks identical. However, the shading, specifically in episode 2, is a little odd. Some scenes are strangely lit and shaded, and even Celia’s colouring changes in episode 2, which is a baffling decision. But the animation isn’t unwatchable; there’s just some strange choices when it comes to this aspect.
The first episode, ‘Welcome to Monsters Incorporated’, introduces viewers to the new character, voiced by Ben Feldman (As Above So Below, Cloverfield) at his chaotic first day at work. It’s a good introduction to the show and a great continuation to the result of the 2001 film’s ending. Understandably, Tylor is confused and frustrated at the sudden change the company’s going through, especially since it was his dream to become a scarer to now being told that that doesn’t matter anymore. He then meets the MIFT’s, Monsters Inc. Facilities Team, who are the company’s repair team and their strange behaviour due to them being situated underground a lot.
The second episode is called ‘Meet the MIFT’s’ and this is where Tylor truly sees the work that the repair department carry out. While they are strange, as seen in the surreal Initiation scene, they also know what they’re doing when something breaks in the company. This episode specifically demonstrates their skills at fixing a malfunctioning door and it shows that the team are truly valuable to the workings of Monsters Inc. Of course, if something breaks, a repair team would be needed so this episode, and show, highlight a side of the company that audiences have never seen before.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijsh5RVYnoY
Episode 2 also shows the skills that some monsters have who were previously just assistants to the scarers. Because of the big change in how the city’s energy is gained, it turns out that Mike is a great jokester (not scarer), and even teaches the Comedy classes in a hilariously fast-paced sequence. While he wasn’t a good scarer, he makes a fantastic jokester.
The first two episodes of ‘Monsters at Work’ have caught my attention and re-captured my childhood. While the animation quality isn’t as polished as Pixar’s feature films, the beloved characters are back, and the new characters are interesting. The show highlights a side of Monsters Inc. that wasn’t previously seen before, but one that is valuable to the workings of the company. The company has also gone through a big change, and it makes sense that it would not work straight away. The first two episodes are ultimately great at re-introducing fans into the Monster world and to the new and (sort of) improved Monsters Incorporated.
