Dashing Through the Snow (2023)
Director: Tim Story
Screenwriters: Paula Pell, Scott Rosenberg
Starring: Chris ‘Ludacris’ Bridges, Madison Skye Validum, Teyonah Parris, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Lil Rey Howery, Oscar Nuñez

The majority of Christmas movies for kids follow a similar pattern: a jaded grown up is sick to their back teeth with the festive season, and they are completely unwilling to suck it up for their child’s benefit (you know, like millions of the globe’s parents have to do each year), that it takes a Christmas miracle to restore their faith.  

If Santa can fix a failing marriage too, then every Hallmark box has been ticked.

Eddie (Chris ‘Ludacris’ Bridges) is one such jaded adult, living alone while he and his wife (Teyonah Parris) go through therapy. He hates the holidays, claiming carol singers sound like wounded ducks, and he is happy to work through it to avoid any festivity. His daughter, Charlotte (Madison Skye Validum) is the exact opposite. She lives for Christmas and all the traditions that go with it. She wears red and green just in case her dad decides to take her somewhere nice this Christmas Eve.

Allison (Teyonah Parris) has some last-minute shopping to do so Charlotte is with grumpy dad who has an unusual Christmas off from work. After a pretty joyless dinner with nary a paper hat to be found, Eddie announces he needs to feed the neighbour’s cat. When looking for Pudding Foots, Eddie doesn’t find her (nor does he put any food out). What he does find is a man stuck in the chimney. Eddie is a social worker with the Atlanta police, his job is working with people who’ve fallen through the cracks and need a bit of help. This Nick Sinter-Claus (Lil Rey Howery) obviously needs it, the dude thinks he’s Santa! With Charlotte in tow, Eddie flips back into work mode to get Nick the help he needs.

On their way to the police station, Eddie realises they’re being followed. The disjointed style of storytelling means we haven’t been told why they are being followed, and won’t be told for another third of the film. But these goons are hellbent on taking Nick down.

In a lot of ways, Dashing Through the Snow is exactly what you would expect from a Christmas film. It is a short 90 minutes, features garish set designs, glimmer and shine, there’s a musical number, and there’s a boxing reindeer. However, it falls short…

The dreaded product placement logo as the opening credits roll prepares you for any awkward scenes of close-up iPad wiggling. Because that is what this film is about: an iPad. Why Santa can be seen on this night as opposed to any other is not explained. It barely snows and it’s not so much of a dash as a bumble around downtown Atlanta. Its strong cast are phoning it in. Mary Lynn Rajskub is woefully underutilised. She is a comic heavyweight and does little beyond gurn. While it seems Teyonah Parris’s soul purpose was to over-pronounce peppermintinis and go shopping. Lil Rey Howery’s Santa is given so many gags that when he does try to speak earnestly it seems insincere.

Oscar Nuñez is believable as corrupt politician Harf, but his storyline is completely two-dimensional. Chris ‘Ludacris’ Bridges is the star on top of the Christmas tree here; Eddie is likable and says the few genuinely funny lines in the film, but he doesn’t shine quite bright enough to save the venture.

Perhaps expectations were too high for Dashing Through the Snow – the back catalogue of the writers include an eclectic contribution to entertainment: ‘Saturday Night Live’, Con Air (1997), High Fidelity (2000), and the Jumanji reboots (2017, 2019) to name a few. All of which are highly popular and lucrative. It’s fair to say that people have lower expectations of Christmas movies. Schlock isn’t only accepted, it’s actively pursued. Tis the season for guilty pleasures and vegging out after all. It is a shame though, because with such talent behind the scenes it feels like Dashing Through the Snow could have been a good film, rather than a mediocre one.

Dashing Through the Snow has its moments but is ultimately a story about an iPad. It isn’t funny enough, and the story isn’t strong enough. Lil Rey Howery demanding cookies and farting cinnamon for 90 minutes might cut it for one watch, but it doesn’t feel like a new Christmas classic has made its way onto our screens. Ludacris earnestly saying things like ‘I believe in baby carrots and red potatoes. With the skin on’ is not going to be this year’s ‘yippee ka-yay.’

Score: 14/24

The Marvels (2023)
Director: Nia DaCosta
Screenwriters: Nia DaCosta, Megan McDonnell, Elissa Karasik
Starring: Brie Larson, Teyonah Parris, Iman Vellani, Zawe Ashton, Gary Lewis, Park Seo-joon, Zenobia Shroff, Mohan Kapur, Saagar Shaikh, Samuel L. Jackson

Previously on the MCU…

In Captain Marvel, Carol Danvers became the most powerful woman alive when she absorbed the cosmic energy of an exploding alien reactor. In ‘Wandavision’, astronaut Monica Rambeau gained the power to manipulate the electromagnetic spectrum when she passed through a barrier of chaos magic. In ‘Ms Marvel’, teenage superhero fangirl Kamala Khan’s inert extra-dimensional mutant powers were unlocked by a magical bangle passed down through her family. Now…

When three superheroes with light-based powers mysteriously start switching places across the universe, Carol Danvers (Brie Larson), Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris) and Kamala Khan (Iman Vellani) must team up to find the root cause of their conundrum and stop fanatical Kree warlord Dar-Benn (Zawe Ashton) from doing untold damage to the universe.

The debate about whether it’s a good move for buzzworthy indie directors to make the leap to superhero blockbusters so early in their careers continues. Cop Car’s Jon Watts managed to keep some of his directorial voice intact when he swung into the MCU with Spider-Man: Homecoming, ditto Taika Waititi taking up Thor’s hammer straight after Hunt for the Wilderpeople, but other filmmakers like Cate Shortland (going from Berlin Syndrome to Black Widow) and Chloé Zhao (following Nomadland with Eternals) have struggled to make their superhero movies stand out. Nia DaCosta (previously behind the Candyman reboot) seems to find herself somewhere in the middle of that scale, bringing plenty of personality to her story but perhaps having to temper her darker impulses to fit the studio brief.

The sheer charm of the central trio’s dynamic makes you forgive the film a lot of sins. This is what you’re watching for, to see this unconventional surrogate family unit – an absentee aunt, a grieving daughter and an over-enthusiastic younger sister who just wants to be included – puzzle out their predicament and support each other through their trials. The problem is that exactly what Captain Marvel has been doing since her movie debut, referenced in brief flashbacks and confronted directly at this film’s close, sounds a lot more interesting than the film we are actually watching. Rather than grappling with the responsibility of what to do with your near-unlimited power, seeing her make what will prove to be disastrous decisions that impact the lives of billions of extra-terrestrials, more often than not we’re hurtling around the universe searching for space trinkets for undefined reasons. 

There are some admittedly eye-catching sci-fi vistas on display, with glittering futuristic cities and spectacularly collapsing planetary bodies aplenty. There is also, disappointingly, still the odd uninspiring brawl that amounts to repetitive punching with added fireworks, usually in pretty featureless added-in-post environs. 

The action highlight is unquestionably the bravura fight sequence in the first act that is given its lifeblood and rhythm by sterling work from editors Catrin Hedström and Evan Schiff, hilariously inopportunely zipping the three Marvels in and out of their brawl taking place at three different points in the galaxy every time they use their powers. This unexpectedly not only puts the Khan family and their Jersey City home in the firing line but also keeps the powered trio physically apart and unable to effectively coordinate a little while longer.

You can’t really accuse DaCosta and co for playing it safe, mostly because of how prominently they feature multiple Flerkens (chaotic alien cats that can consume just about anything with their disguised tendrilled maws). The film also finds room for not one but two musical, or at least musical-inspired sequences to break up its more generic action. The more self-aware of these scenes that references an infamous piece of bad pop culture is the better and most memorable of the two by far and will doubtless be doing the rounds on social media as soon as The Marvels is released digitally.

This is one of the funnier Marvel movies, but most of the humour comes from the performances (especially Vellani’s insatiable excitement levels) rather than what was written on the page. The script could have used another pass for sure, and it contains very little that might be considered quotable. The warm interplay of Kamala and her protective family, the undoubted heart and highlight of her solo show, is always welcome, plus it’s amusing that they gave her parents (Zenobia Shroff and Mohan Kapur, both great value) more to do in this than Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury.

The Marvels has probably the most boring villain since we completely lost Christopher Eccleston behind his prosthetics to play Malekith. Zawe Ashton’s Dar-Benn is literally carrying around her Kree uber-bastard predecessor Ronan the Accuser’s hammer and making foreboding pronouncements, sneering through metal-capped teeth completely straight-faced without the luxury of a Star-Lord dancing to puncture her pomposity. We know she’s after a pair of magical MacGuffins and she wants to destroy a sizeable portion of the universe (which is bad) in order to save her own dying world (which is goodish), but she has no other personality or nuance to make her feel like anything more than a driver of plot.

You do wonder how much this movie was whittled down in the edit and whether DaCosta would have wanted to delve further into Carol’s costly mistakes and dwell on the dark implications of godlike power a little more in addition to delivering a fun space romp driven by sparky interplay between three gifted female performers. As it is, The Marvels is a decent enough time at the movies that doesn’t quite come together as a satisfying whole. Fans won’t need to be told to stick around during the credits for a couple of pleasant surprises. 

Score: 16/24

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They Cloned Tyrone (2023)
Director: Juel Taylor
Screenwriters: Tony Rettenmaier, Juel Taylor
Starring: John Boyega, Jamie Foxx, Teyonah Parris, Keifer Sutherland

A pimp, a sex worker and a drug dealer uncover a massive government plot playing out (quite literally) beneath their noses. It’s not quite the usual set up for a mystery sci-fi thriller, but Juel Taylor’s feature-length directorial debut does it any way. And it’s a riot. Pulp fiction at its finest. Even the slightly grainy quality to the camera work is reminiscent of the cheap paper that murder mysteries were printed on back in their heyday. The plot is fast and full of twists, the two-hour runtime flies by. It is the screen equivalent of a page-turner.

They Cloned Tyrone’s marketing has its three protagonists labelled as an unlikely trio, but given the film’s setting they seem the likeliest of people to take down the man. ‘Nancy Drew ain’t got shit on me’ says Teyonah Parris’s ferocious Yo-Yo. A lovable sex worker who’s as sharp with her wit as her bullets. The confidence she displays in her ability to solve the mystery is possibly misplaced. Fontaine (John Boyega) and Slick Charles (Jamie Foxx) certainly look like they don’t believe her.

Whether they like it or not, these three are at the heart of this puzzle. A puzzle that started when Fontaine (John Boyega), one of the neighbourhood drug dealers, was violently shot dead by a rival. The thing is, he woke up completely unharmed.

John Boyega cut his teeth in sci-fi cult classic Attack the Block (2011) and played an important part in the Star Wars reboots, so it isn’t surprising that he’s comfortable in another sci-fi story. In fact, every character is perfectly cast, the on-screen chemistry between John Boyega, Jamie Foxx and Teyonah Parris is a joy to watch. Foxx in particular is brilliant in the comedic role of Slick Charles, the ‘1995 International Players Ball “Pimp of the Year”’. And Teyonah Parris is amazing, especially when sparring with Foxx’s Slick.

Like Joe Cornish’s Attack the Block (2011), or Jordan Peele’s Get Out (2017) and Us (2019), They Cloned Tyrone is a genre film with a clear social commentary. The Glen – the neighbourhood that Fontaine, Yo-Yo and Slick are fighting so desperately to protect – is a microcosm, albeit a slightly off-kilter version, of the world. This is a community plagued by lack of opportunity, lack of social mobility, the perils of masculinity, drugs and gun violence. The film does well to explore the cyclical nature of these issues too, the notion of those in power benefitting from neglected communities as well. Of course, Jordan Peele is a hard comparison to live up to and it’s fair to say They Cloned Tyrone doesn’t quite match up to Get Out (2018), but this still feels like a film that is going to do well, spark conversations and garner a solid fanbase.

Everything in They Cloned Tyrone, from costume to language is amped up, over the top to the point of absurd, or it’s boiled down to stereotypes, purposefully, and to interesting effect. Fontaine’s (John Boyega) gold teeth flash during rare smiles and Slick Charles (Jamie Foxx) wears alligator skin shoes.

In stark contrast to their stereotypical costumes, the characters are multi-faceted and complex. Boyega’s Fontaine is a tough nut who cares for a sick mother, and Yo-Yo is a sex worker who reads crime novels and dreams of hiking through Patagonia. Slick is articulate and verbose, why say ‘show me the way,’ when you can say ‘Excuse me, kind sir. But if you can point me to the elevator that leads to the freaky laboratory, I’ll be out your atmosphere’?

The film possibly suffers slightly because of the scope of topics it is trying to tackle. It could easily be double the length. The ending, unfortunately, feels a little rushed, especially after such a brilliant build up. Major plot points are dealt with in a matter of minutes while other moments are lingered on for too long. So much is going on it’s easy to miss a beat.

The culmination of so many ideas seems fitting with Taylor’s eclectic past projects. As a screenwriter, he has worked on movies such as Creed II (2018) and Space Jam: New Legacy (2021), he’s obviously someone who isn’t constrained by genre. This ability to borrow tropes is evident in They Cloned Tyrone. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, if anything it could broaden the film’s appeal. Fans of everything from Cabin in the Woods (2011) to Sorry to Bother You (2018) should find things to love.

There is no arguing that They Cloned Tyrone is enjoyable, funny, and entertaining, but it does sometimes miss the mark. Perhaps there are one too many twists, perhaps the title joke doesn’t quite pay off. Perhaps none of that matters when Jamie Foxx is so spectacular.

Score: 19/24