Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa

Spanks – 3

Director – Jeff Tremaine

Writers – Johnny Knoxville & Spike Jonze & Jeff Tremaine

Starring – Johnny Knoxville, Jackson Nicoll & Catherine Keener

Release Date – 25 December 2013

MPAA Rating – R

Run time – 92 Minutes

Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa would be the fourth Jackass movie, if Jackass had a plot. It stars Johnny Knoxville in old man makeup like he used in skits throughout the run of Jackass. The plot of the movie isn’t original, but the stunts and pranks are the focus of the movie. The plot follows 86 year old Irving whose wife dies at the beginning of the movie. At her funeral, their daughter shows up and tells him he has to take her son Billy to his father in Raleigh North Carolina because she is going back to jail because she violates her parole.

This film is for you if you enjoy Jackass or movies like Borat and Bruno. The movie plays like those two movies by putting the actors in situations with regular people and filming the reactions. It is a movie to watch to when you don’t want to think and just have a good time. Absolutely no brainpower is needed. Bad Grandpa is just a slap stick (sometimes taken a little to far) comedy to watch one night when all you want to do is laugh for an hour and a half.

Saving Mr. Banks

Spanks – 4

Director – John Lee Hancock

Writers – Kelly Marcel and Sue Smith

Starring – Emma Thompson, Tom Hanks, Colin Farrell, Ruth Wilson, Paul Giamatti, Bradley Whitford, B.J. Novak & Jason Schwartzman

Release Date – 20 December 2013

MPAA Rating – PG-13

Run time – 125 Minutes

Saving Mr. Banks is a very entertaining and informative movie. It is about author P.L. Travers and how Walt Disney convinced her to let him make Mary Poppins. Disney wanted to turn the book into a movie for years, but she wouldn’t let him. In 1961, Disney flew her to Los Angeles to convince her to change her mind. The film is about that trip. The film also flashes back to her childhood, which helps the viewer to understand why she is the way she is.

Ms. Travers wasn’t an easy person to work with and Emma Thompson plays that character well. The rest of the cast play their characters great to go along with Emma Thompson. Hopefully, she will be up for some awards early next year for her performance.

The film isn’t as happy as the previews make it out to be. This is because of the flashbacks to her childhood; which the trailers don’t really show. The scenes about making Mary Poppins are fun and happy, but it isn’t a film for little kids and you’ll probably want to watch it without them first. Saving Mr. Banks is a wonderful film and worth going to see.