The Kid Who Would Be King

Swanner: Alex is just your regular teenager;  he always blends into the crowd and fears the mean kids, as we all did. After being chased by some bullies, Alex finds himself in a construction zone where he comes across a sword sticking out of some cement. He pulls the sword out of the stone, and finds that his actions come with big responsibility. A young man appears to him, telling him the sword he has in his possession is Excalibur, and that he is the chosen one. He also warns him that Morgana is trying to take power and Alex’s army must defeat her. The problem is that Alex has no army.

This is one of those fun kids movies I remember when I was a kid. It’s a kids story told from a kids point of view. They’ve started making more of these films once the studios realized there was a big market for the genre. They are also spending more money and it goes to make the films more sell-able to a very critical audience. I love the reboot of the King Arthur story. It’s by far the best I’ve seen in quite a while. I don’t think the fact that this is a British film will be a problem, since the Harry Potter films made billions.

Joe Cornish has some good screenplays (Ant Man, Tin Tin) behind him, so it’s nice see him directing one himself. I think he’s got a talent for it and he wrote a fun script to boot. I liked that the magic is more like the TV series The Magicians, so when Merlin does his spells, it’s more than a flick of a wand. The young cast members are all very likable, and having a young and old Merlin (Angus Imrie and Patrick Stuart) was a good choice. The film has a very diverse cast so there should be someone to relate to. If you find the trailer appealing then give The Kid who would be King and chance this weekend.

Swanner: 3 stars

Podcast: SJ 222: RuPaul; Top Chef; Schooled; Schitt’s Creek; The Grand Tour; Brooklyn 99; Fresh Off the Boat; Modern Family; The Conners; Orville; Future Man; Jockstrap: Love is the Key to the City; Glass

Swanner and Judd talk about RuPaul; Top Chef; Schooled; Schitt’s Creek; The Grand Tour; Brooklyn 99; Fresh Off the Boat; Modern Family; The Conners; Orville; Future Man; Jockstrap: Love is the Key to the City; Glass.

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Glass

Swanner: In 2000, M. Night Shyamalan wrote and directed a film called Unbreakable. It told the story of David Dunn (Bruce Willis), a man who was the sole survivor of a train crash. The film also followed the life of Elijah Price, a man with brittle bones. Both men are superhuman and polar opposites. In 2018, Shyamalan wrote and directed Split. In Split, James McAvoy plays Kevin Crumb, a kidnapper/murderer who suffers from multiple personality disorder . By the end of Split we realize that Crumb lives in the same city…the same world as Dunn, and Price, and is also superhuman.

Glass opens with Kevin and his 23 personalities holding four cheerleaders against their will, with Dunn trying capture him and free the girls. Unfortunately they are both caught and are held in an asylum. There they meet Dr. Ellie Staple (Sarah Paulson), who works with patients who think they are superheroes. They also discover that Price is being held there as well. Anyone who knows how comic book stories work knows one hero and two villains together is never a good thing. Expect chaos.

I found such joy at the end of Split, when Bruce Willis shows up letting the audience know we’re now watching film two of a trilogy. I also love seeing that Shyamalan still has his drive and talent to make movies that get him excited, but also get me excited. I hear people complain about the way he tells a story, because they are so used to getting cookie cutter plots that always lead to a safe predictable ending. Not with M. Night; if you’re not in full discussion mode on the way home, he hasn’t done his job. Making everything even more familiar, he has included the same actors playing the roles they created in the earlier films. Anye Taylor-Joy playing Casey, the girl that got away from Kevin; Spencer Treat Clark plays a grown up Joseph Dunn; and Charlayne Woodard is back to play Price’s mother. I was thoroughly entertained with Glass and look forward to where he’l take me next.

Swanner: 3 ½ stars

Podcast: SJ 221: RuPaul; Top Chef; Schooled; Schitt’s Creek; Brooklyn 99; Fresh Off the Boat; Modern Family; The Cool Kids; The Conners; Orville; Golden Globes; The Fernweh;

Swanner and Judd talk about RuPaul; Top Chef; Schooled; Schitt’s Creek; Brooklyn 99; Fresh Off the Boat; Modern Family; The Cool Kids; The Conners; Orville; Golden Globes; The Fernweh.

Left Click To Listen, Right Click Here To Download

Podcast: SJ 220: Fresh Off the Boat; The Cool Kids; Orville; The Jack Moves: Free Money; Beautiful Boy; RBG; Roma; Bird Box; The Ballad of Buster Scruggs; Dumplin’

Swanner and Judd talk about Fresh Off the Boat; The Cool Kids; Orville; The Jack Moves: Free Money; Beautiful Boy; RBG; Roma; Bird Box; The Ballad of Buster Scruggs; Dumplin’.

Left Click To Listen, Right Click Here To Download