Sunny Grewal’s festive (December) film watch

December 23 2014

Sunny (above left) and his wife (Sunny and Shay) are on BBC West Midlands 95.6FM between 2-4pm, every Monday to Thursday. Be sure to listen in. It’s here.
You can continue to hear the couple on their signature BBCLondon94.9FM show every Sunday between 6pm-8pm. It’s here.

Here’s what I am looking out for this month from the trailers…

“Dumb and Dumber To” – They have been leaking their trailers awhile and the film released on Friday (December 19). It looks like they have stuck to the original, they are not trying to retell anything. I think this is going to be a good sequel, even though they have done a prequel before. I am a big fan of the original and looking forward to this wholeheartedly. Hopefully these are not just the best bits in the trailer, it had me in stiches.
Sunny trailer rating: 3 (out of five) Dogmoblies (that’s their car)

“Exodus Gods and Kings” – Visually, it looks stunning, it’s got that Ridley Scott style, so straightaway it seems a lot more epic (than other films) and there’s a lot of special effects in the trailer.
It hasn’t intrigued me as much as I thought it would – but it has with Shay. She is really looking forward to it! Shay can’t get enough of it. She wants to see it in IMAX to get the whole experience but I am like, oh well we know what happens…it hasn’t pulled me in it yet. There are some good British actors featured in the trailer – Ben Kingsley among them. I am excited but not so much. Not really, really feeling it.
Sunny trailer rating: 2 Crowns

“The Humbling” – This is a film with one of my favourite actors, Al Pacino, and whenever there is a film out of his, I have to go out and see it. It’s a character film and he is ageing and trying to find his responsibilities. So, I am quite intrigued by it, it’s not going to be one of those big showbiz films, more a heart-warming one. It is definitely lower key. I think it’s going to be one of those when you start watching you’re going to be drawn in. Al Pacino looks like he’s really acting in this and he is going to be good.
Trailer rating: Al Pacino ** stars

This is what I made of the films I previewed from the trailers last month (November)…

“The Imitation Game” – It has a really strong British cast: Benedict Cumberbatch, Keira Knightley, Matthew Goode, Rory Kinnear, Allen Leech, Charles Dance and Mark Strong.
A lot of people say this is an Oscar-winning performance, and I am not going to disagree, it was really strong performance but it didn’t seem like he was really out of his comfort zone.
He did make Alan Turing believable, it was a really good interpretation. And it is a good way of teaching history and telling us about we didn’t know about. Director Morten Tyldum is really saying something about acceptance, and about the outsiders, and I did really get that from this film.
If you miss it in the cinema and end up watching it on TV, you won’t be missing much. Don’t beat yourself up about it if you didn’t see it in the cinema. It is going to be a strong contender for The Oscars next year.
Sunny rating: **** (out of five)

“Interstellar” – This is a film I thought I am going to have to need some education. I thought it was going to be a difficult watch because there is a lot of science in it and would I enjoy these types of films? I am a big of science fiction. Christopher Nolan does an amazing job on the screen. He’s done a really, really god job of making a complicated film that does not make you feel stupid.
You know what’s going on, even the people I thought who would walk away from this film, they said: “I get this film, and that’s really clever”. If you really want to know what this film is about and you want to see a sort of prequel to this – see “Contact”. It is a Jodie Foster film, where aliens contacted us. If you see these films back to back, you can see the similarity. I am trying not to give too much away, because there’s a lot of good stuff in this film – the way he plays with time and you’ve got quantum physics in there.
The trailers don’t give away too much. The film is one of the strongest science fiction films that have come out this year – and that is including “Guardians of the Galaxy” because that is just amazing, and that is the top dog. It’s brilliant. It’s getting me ready for the next “Star Wars”, I love the characters in Galaxy and wanted to see more of them.
Sunny rating: ***** interstellar rockets

“Paddington” – If you’ve forgotten what Paddington is about, you just need to get onto youtube and it’s all there. You forget how cute the stories were, and how British they were. I wasn’t too fond of the bear in the trailer, and I thought it was going to be a flop. After watching the film, I think it was a really good film.
The story is quite intriguing, it’s very humorous, it’s got that Britishness about it that that I really did enjoy. I love it when you see London in that way. The bear himself, almost came over as a snob, but not in the film, he was quite lovable. I wish he was chubbier and a bit more like a teddy bear. I went and watched the old series again, and he’s a bit chubbier, and looks more like a teddy bear. In the film, he looks like a teenage bear. Not quite the real deal – it’s an interpretation and he’s not as bad; he’s a bit naughty but it’s really good fun to watch.
Sunny rating: *** bears

It’s coming to the end of the year, and this my last review of 2014 and you might be wondering why I didn’t pick “The Hobbit” and some other films. When it comes down to picking the films here – it is by far how the trailers have appealed to me.
I wanted to give some message to all the families going to the cinema in the next week, you’ve got “Nights at The Museum 2” again and Jamie Foxx in a new version of “Annie“.

There are quite a few choices out there in terms of films. And looking ahead to next month, there are already a couple of films I am already excited about but I don’t want to talk about them now.
We have quite a good start to the New Year, there are some films I have been waiting for – I might do more than look at just three in the next month, but until then these three will keep us going strong.

In the meantime, all of you have a great Christmas break and a happy New Year and see you in 2015!

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Do check our “As We Proceed” online comedy series on youtube.com/thesunnyandshay

Do tell me what you think of the films I’ve talked about here on ACV.