David R. Walker

Posts Tagged ‘C.C.H. Pounder’

The Naked Gun

Director: Akiva Schaffer

Cast: Liam Neeson, Pamela Anderson, Danny Huston, Paul Walter Hauser, CCH Pounder, Kevin Durand, Busta Rhymes, Dave Bautista, Liza Koshy

Running Time: 1 hour and 25 minutes

Film Rating: 7 out of 10

Saturday Night Live director Akiva Schaffer gives The Naked Gun 1990’s film franchise a hilarious reboot in 2025, which is the spoof comedy that the world needs right now.

Perfectly cast with action star Liam Neeson as Frank Drebin Jr and Baywatch and The Last Showgirl star Pamela Anderson as the blonde femme fatale Beth Davenport in The Naked Gun, the 2025 version which is absolutely hilarious, utterly inappropriate and features a cast all over the age of 55 which is refreshingly original.

Who knew Oscar nominee Liam Neeson (Schindler’s List) could do comedy so well? Or Danny Huston for that matter? Danny Huston (The Constant Gardener, The Aviator) who normally stars in serious drama or action roles plays the villain, tech tycoon Richard Cane who has plans to decimate Los Angeles with a weird microchip that will take humanity back to their animal instincts.

Drebin and his partner Ed Hocken Jr played by Paul Walter Hauser (The Fantastic Four, Richard Jewell) are called to the case of Beth’s brother who is found dead in Malibu after his self-driving car plunged off a cliff.

Director Akiva Schaffer pays homage to the original spoof trilogy which featured Leslie Nielsen, Priscilla Presley, O.J. Simpson and George Kennedy in the first three films from 1988 to 1994.

Fortunately the 2025 version depends on good chemistry between the two main leads and Liam Neeson and Pamela Anderson perfectly hold this spoof parody of a L. A. film noir together with all the humour and panache required.

Liam Neeson is brilliant as Drebin Jr the idiotic police detective who destroys electric cars, bathroom doors and everything in between.

Pamela Anderson is fabulous as Beth Davenport a cheesy crime fiction novelist with titles like The Killer Wore Red Lipstick who is desperate to track down her brother’s killer. Miss Davenport gets accosted by the villainous misogynistic tech billionaire Richard Cane in a night club as she soon realizes who the killer really is and that Drebin is a good catch.

Audiences should also look out for the fantastic C.C.H. Pounder (Baghdad Cafe, Postcards from the Edge) as the exasperated police chief Davis who battles to keep Drebin and Hocken in line according to the bizarre rules of police squad.

Drebin and Davenport strike up a love affair which involves a kinky snowman, basting turkeys and vodka. All the scenes in The Naked Gun are hilarious made more so by the three main cast members who keep a straight face amidst a ludicrous script packed with cheesy dialogue.

If viewers enjoyed the first Naked Gun trilogy, then catch the 2025 version in cinemas now. It is just under 90 minutes of pure laughter and trust me, you will forget all your troubles at the door.

Naughty, mischievous and filled with sassy sexual innuendo, the script of The Naked Gun reads like one long Dad joke, but this comedy is worth seeing. Recommended viewing.

The Naked Gun is laugh out loud funny and gets a film rating of 7 out of 10.

A perfect parody of film noir with an aging detective and a gorgeous blonde thrown in, all set in the city of Angels. What could possibly go wrong?

Avatar: The Way of Water

Director: James Cameron

Cast: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Kate Winslet, Stephen Lang, Jack Champion, Cliff Curtis, Edie Falco, CCH Pounder

Running Time: 3 hours and 12 minutes

Film Rating: 8 out of 10

This film is only available in cinemas – please support cinemas

After a 13 year absence, director James Cameron returns with the highly anticipated sequel to the 2009 smash hit Avatar which is a mix up of the first film, with directorial flourishes from his earlier films including the Oscar winning Titanic and 1989’s The Abyss. Avatar: The Way of Water follows the Na’vi race to protect Pandora from the Sky People commonly known as humanity who have come to colonize Pandora as earth is becoming increasingly uninhabitable.

This epic fantasy adventure is over 3 hours long and can be viewed as a family orientated cinematic opera with a clear 3 act partition. The narrative focuses on Jake Sully and his family as they leave the rainforests and escape to the water people, Metkayina reef people headed up by TonoWari played by New Zealand actor Cliff Curtis (Once Were Warriors) and his wife Ronal played by Oscar winner Kate Winslet (The Reader) who reteams with James Cameron after the critical success of Titanic.

Act 1 of Avatar: The Way of the Water is establishing the family dynamics of Jake Sully and his wife Neytiri played by Zoe Saldana and their four children: two boys and two girls as they live blissfully in the lush rain forests of Pandora. Act 2 follows the family’s departure to the water people following an imminent threat by Quaritch played by Stephen Lang, a human space commando that has become an Avatar to track down Jake Sully and then Act 3 is the most spectacular as there are the Aqua Wars.

It is really in the critical scenes of Act 3 that director James Cameron excels as the gorgeous water scenes are extraordinary. However soon the water people and the ocean species are threatened by the arrival of Quaritch with humans, ammunition and extremely advanced technology which destabilizes the delicate balance of life that the Water people, wisely governed by TonoWari has fought so hard to maintain. The water sequences in Act 2 and 3 are truly phenomenal: dazzling and visually beautiful. For that reason alone it is worth seeing Avatar: The Way of Water. The second reason, besides the cutting edge visual effects, is the extraordinary production design, not only in scale but in imagination and interpretation.

The story of Avatar: The Way of Water could be an allegory for conservation, the climate crisis and rapid urbanisation. It could also be an allegorical tale about the colonizer trying to conquer the colonised to the point of extinction. Both allegorical reference points remain relevant and contemporary.

Visually lavish, Avatar: The Way of Water is truly amazing to behold, a vast and glimmering spectacle of oceanic wars, threatened species and unbelievable technology.

Avatar: The Way of Water gets a film rating of 8 out of 10 and should win an Oscar for Best Visual effects. It is a very long film, but highly recommended viewing, not so much for the storyline but for the cinematic spectacle.