David R. Walker

Posts Tagged ‘Paul Walter Hauser’

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?

The Fantastic Four: First Steps

Director: Matt Shakman

Cast: Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Joseph Quinn, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Ralph Ineson, Julia Garner, Natasha Lyonne, Paul Walter Hauser, Mark Gatiss, Sarah Niles

Running Time: 1 hour 55 minutes

Film Rating: 8 out of 10

It’s the third time lucky for the Fantastic Four franchise, with two previous remakes in 2005 and 2015 and now in 2025, director Matt Shakman’s Fantastic Four: First Steps is the flashy remake that Marvel needs to reboot itself for the next five years.

Reuniting Pedro Pascal with his Gladiator II co-star, Joseph Quinn, Fantastic Four: First Steps also stars Oscar nominee Vanessa Kirby (Pieces of a Woman) as Reed Richards wife Susan Storm along with The Bear star Ebon Moss-Bacharach as Ben Grimm making up the superhero quartet.

What makes this Fantastic Four: First Steps so brilliant, is that the entire production design by Kasra Farahani is comfortably nestled in a 1960’s nostalgia, down to the sleek cars and retro décor as the city of New York and the wider world is threatened by a malevolent celestial being called Galactus voiced by Ralph Ineson whose rapacious hunger turns to the destruction of Earth.

Naturally the inhabitants of New York turn to The Fantastic Four for salvation from utter annihilation. However in order to save the earth the Fantastic Four or more specifically the love child of Reed Richards and Susan Storm has to be offered up as sacrifice.

Fortunately the onscreen chemistry of these four actors that make up The Fantastic Four is superb particularly the two lead stars, Pedro Pascal, the it man of the moment in Hollywood who made his famous debut in HBO’s Game of Thrones and British star Vanessa Kirby who rose to fame in the hit Netflix series The Crown.

With great acting from both stars, Kirby and Pascal are comfortably compatible together while Joseph Quinn and Ebon Moss-Bachrach are perfectly suited as the goofy uncles. Audiences should look out for cameo roles by TV star Natasha Lyonne as Ben Grimm’s love interest and Julia Garner (Sin City: A Dame to Kill For, The Perks of Being a Wallflower) as the intergalactic silver surfer Shalla-Bal who brings news to earth of the planet’s imminent destruction.

Other cameos include Paul Walter Hauser (Richard Jewell, Cruella, BlackKKlansman) as the underground leader Harvey Elder along with Mark Gatiss as the talk show host who helps to create media hype about the blue clad Fantastic Four.

With retro 1960’s costumes perfectly designed by Oscar winning costume designer Alexandra Byrne (Elizabeth: The Golden Age) and visually arresting special effects, Fantastic Four: First Steps is a thrilling galactic adventure about the power of family and the resilience of unity amidst impending doom, as the Fantastic Four all stick together to save earth and the baby boy, whose cuteness factor rivals Krypto in Superman.

From directing episodes of great TV shows like Succession, Game of Thrones and Billions, director Matt Shakman effortlessly transfers his talents to the big screen with this highly successful 2025 version of Fantastic Four: First Steps.

As Joseph Quinn’s character Johnny Storm says to the silver surfer, I am just trying to save my world, Fantastic Four: First Steps saves the Marvel Cinematic Universe and reinvents it for the arrival of the Avengers. This fantasy adventure features a focused cast, fabulous production and costume design, astonishing visual effects and a clean retro set narrative filled with rejuvenation and hope.

Fantastic Four: First Steps gets a film rating of 8 out of 10 and is by far the best film of the 2025 American summer blockbuster season. See it now in cinemas.

Cruella

Director: Craig Gillespie

Cast: Emma Stone Emma Thompson, Mark Strong, Joel Fry, Paul Walter Hauser, John McCrea, Emily Beecham, Kayvan Novak, Kirby Howell-Baptiste

Disney’s retelling of 101 Dalmatians paid off in the lavish and expertly crafted live action film Cruella featuring Oscar winner Emma Stone (La La Land) channelling her inner psycho diva as the fashion mad anti-heroine  Estella who becomes the villainous Cruella de Ville.

I, Tonya director Craig Gillespie sets Cruella in the vicious fashion world of the 1970’s as Cruella and her arch rival the narcissist and extremely evil Baroness wonderfully played against type by another Oscar winner Emma Thompson (Howard’s End, Sense and Sensibility) as she draws inspiration from Meryl Streep’s performance in The Devil Wears Prada. In this Avant-Garde and fabulously retro Cruella, the battlefield is the infamous Liberty’s department store in Central London, the playground of 1970’s fashion.

Thompson and Stone are perfectly cast as arch rivals who are determined to rip each other to shreds both figuratively and physically using everything at their disposal from Dalmatians to deception.

With double Oscar winner costume designer Jenny Beavan (A Room with a View, Mad Max: Fury Road) creating the most outrageous costumes for both Cruella and The Baroness, the costumes and makeup are unbelievable and absolutely amazing. The musical score is another winner, adding to the film’s funky and swanky feel.

The male actors in Cruella take a notable backseat to the main plot of a rag to riches Cruella who fights her way literally to the top of the London fashion scene.

There is the exception with Cruella’s fellow thieves Jasper expertly played by Joel Fry (Yesterday) and Horace played by extremely talented character actor Paul Walter Hauser (I, Tonya; BlackKklansman; Richard Jewell). Both Horace and Jasper become Cruella/Estella’s aides and assistants as she effortlessly slips between two opposing personalities, one good and the other evil, almost like a fashionable female version of Joker which garnered an Oscar win for Joaquin Phoenix in 2020.

Naturally evil triumphs over good as Cruella soon realizes that to beat a formidable opponent like the vile Baroness who treats all her staff as lowly minions, you have to become a cold hearted and ruthless Diva. Something which Cruella can relate to.

British actor Mark Strong (1917, Shazam!, Zero Dark Thirty) who plays the obsequious and loyal valet represents the stabilizing force in both Cruella and the Baroness’s lives as he delicately shifts the war between the two powerful female forces in favour of the younger, while revealing a devastating family secret.

Disney hit gold with this lavish version of Cruella thanks to two equally brilliant performances by two exceptional actresses: Emma Stone and Emma Thompson.

Cruella is tantamount to the Joker seizing editorial power over Vanity Fair. This elegant Disney version gets a film rating of 7.5 out of 10 and is insightfully directed by Craig Gillespie.