Female Film Critics 24/375
Coyote vs. Acme is a delightful late summer surprise. This live-action/animated misadventure originated in Ian Frazier’s 1990 humorous anti-corporate New Yorker satire, a mock court case in which Looney Tunes’ resilient Wile E. Coyote sues the Acme Corporation for all the defective mail-order products (rocket-propelled roller skates, jet-boosted pogo stick) that have malfunctioned as he relentlessly chased the Road Runner
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Three years after being shelved for a tax write-off, Coyote vs. Acme screeches into theaters, as much a metaphor for perseverance as its wily protagonist. Boulder-size expectations aside, it’s delightful, a screwball, surprisingly poignant tribute to creativity, friendship, and that indefatigable super genius, Wile E. Coyote. Based on Ian Frazier’s dryly brilliant short story in The New Yorker, Coyote vs. Acme</em> blends live action with animation as the dogged desert dweller once again fails to trap his white whale, the Road Runner (scientific name: Fastas Hellus</em>), because of some flawed Acme product.
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Wile E. Coyote is tired. Tired of playing the game. Tired of being blown up by explosives. Tired of being hit in the head with anvils. Tired of being demolished by dynamite. Tired of being hurled off cliffs. He’s so tired. But not too tired to fight back. Teaming up with billboard accident lawyer Kevin Avery (Will Forte), the worn out wolf sues Acme for continual product failure and ends up going to battle with the profit-obsessed conglomerate’s bull dog attorney Buddy Crane, over acted by John Cena, uncovering a corporate cover-up in the process. Instead of just wanting to eat the Roadrunner, a whole other side of Mr. Coyote is revealed.
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Without a big budget or bankable stars, Heads of State manages to be a remarkably entertaining action/buddy comedy. It’s predictably directed by Ilya Naishuller who relies on the energetic ability of John Cena and Idris Elbeto glibly bicker-and-banter their way through one dire, diverting dilemma after another.
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I startled myself awake the morning after my screening with the shocking realization that nothing in the trailer — which has been ubiquitous and inescapable at cinemas for months now — is actually in the damn movie. Or is it? Maybe some of it is? The movie itself had already faded from memory, mere hours later, it’s that blah…
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Most critics don’t seem to be fans of Matthew Vaughn’s new action comedy, Argylle, but luckily, I’m in the minority of those who had a blast with it. The film is about an introverted spy novelist played by Bryce Dallas Howard, who is drawn into the activities of a sinister underground organization. It’s best to not take this film too seriously. Just allow yourself to enjoy the ridiculous ride. Argylle is a fast-paced, witty, and action-packed spy comedy that’s well worth seeing on the big screen.
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With director Matthew Vaughn, best known for Kick-Ass and the Kingsman films, one expects foolishness. This isn’t Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy—or even The Spy Who Loved Me. Argylle is preposterous and messy, but I’ve seen worse, and without the good cheer of Bryce Dallas Howard and Sam Rockwell. It’s pitched at a heightened reality with cartoonish stunts, over-the-top action, zany dance choreography, and disco music. I doubt I’ll see another sequence this year with someone on jerry-rigged knife-blade ice skates slaying enemies in a sit-spin, or people twirling in a gunfight among smoke canisters that bloom into technicolor hearts.
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“The greater the spy, the bigger the lie.” This is a great way to describe the new action thriller, Argylle. No one is who they say they are…or are they? Everyone is a double, triple or even quadruple agent in this well choreographed Dancing with the Spies espionage escapade.
Argylle is the title character in a series of spy novels written by the reclusive Ella Conway, played by Bryce Dallas Howard. After Aiden, a real secret agent (Sam Rockwell), shows up at her door ready to save her and her beloved cat, Alfie, from almost certain death, Ella realizes the plot of the new book she’s writing is mirroring real world events in real time. But are they predictions or are they memories?
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