TheRetroCritic

It's a shame that Bill Murray was ignored at the Oscars for his performance in St. Vincent , the 2014 film about an ageing, grumpy, chain-smoking slob who becomes the unlikely babysitter of his new neighbour's young son. While on paper it may sound like just another Gran Torino , that movie was much less clever and well acted than this comedy which doesn't sugar-coat anything but still manages to have some genuinely funny but also touching moments. As we see Vietnam war veteran Vincent (Murray), change from a moody, down-and-out alcoholic to a "Saint" of sorts, in the eyes of young Oliver (Jaeden Lieberher) at least, nothing is forced or random and the tearjerker ending is earned. As we learn more and more about Vincent's troubled past, we understand his daily frustrations better and sympathise with him, even when he's being unreasonable or rude. As for his neighbour Maggie Bronstein (Melissa McCarthy), the film paints her as a bit of a deadbeat mothe

I talk about the much talked-about new Ghostbusters movie.

As the internet finally recovers from all the silliness that surrounded the release of this Ghostbusters remake, we can now actually watch the film and talk about it like sober adults. I should point out that the real problems skeptics had with this movie was not the cast but the idea of another by-numbers remake nowhere near as good as the original films in the vein of Total Recall or RoboCop . And with the mostly unappealing trailers we got prior to the new movie's release, this was frankly a fair concern. Luckily, the film itself is far better than the awful marketing for it suggested but, on the other hand, it's still an inferior by-numbers remake that's not as good as the originals, which is why most reviews for it are so up and down. The cast, I can confirm, is likeable and does a decent job throughout. Melissa McCarthy is not the one-joke Chris Farley wannabe she tends to be in a lot of other movies instead taking on the Ray role with a slightly squeakier voi

In this 69th episode of  The Big Rewind , we review Independence Day: Resurgence , talk about Melissa McCarthy, Star Trek Beyond and Quick Change . CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE EPISODE Email us here if you have any questions, requests or contributions:  bigrewindpodcast@gmail.com Or simply comment below :) Oh and you can also find us on  iTunes ,  Stitcher ,  Soundcloud  and  Player FM  where you can subscribe to the podcast and download every episode thusfar! @TheRetroCritic #TheBigRewind retrocriticblog.blogspot.com thebigrewind.blogspot.com youtube.com/TheRetroCritic youtube.com/Cablogula

Well it looks like the old uptight person/large person road trip comedy genre still has some mileage on it! With Due Date and now Identity Thief , it's looking like John Hughes' classic Planes, Trains And Automobiles might have been more influential than we originally thought. And for years I thought Tommy Boy would be the last word on that genre... This time around we've got Jason Bateman playing a normal boring dude with a normal boring office job (fancy that!) who gets his identity stolen by a loud, obnoxious, manipulative Melissa McCarthy. To keep his new job, Bateman decides to travel to Miami to somehow find his sworn enemy and bring her back to his state to get arrested. Of course, this already not very good-sounding plan turns out to go really wrong. For one thing, the identity thief in question keeps punching people in the neck, she's hunted by criminals for some reason and is generally a nightmare to be around. To sum up: she makes John Candy in th