Ryan McLoughlin

The Boat That Rocked

• Date of release: 2009

• Director: Richard Curtis
• Cast: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Bill Nighy, Rhys Ifans, Nick Frost, Kenneth Branagh
• Brief plot line: Carl is expelled from school and is sent to live on a pirate radio station boat to
grow up. Whilst on the boat he finds out who is dad is and he falls in love with a girl. This pirate
radio station is always on air and is hated by the government who keep trying to shut them
down.
• Film company: Working Title films
• Release Date: uk - 1st April 2009
• Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFcPRl2iAaI length: 1:36
• Box office figures: £1.8m on opening
• Reviews:
• Curtis' previous films were romantic comedies, so TBTR was always going to fare less well,
especially given that its target audience is probably a bit oblivious to its subject matter. That
said, seeing as it sounds like a proper turd, I'm glad it's doing comparatively badly. Who wants to
see mediocrity rewarded?
• I suspect that the bad performance at the box office is linked to the fact that it looks as
though, despite having Philip Seymour Hoffman on the cast (which would normally be enough to
persuade me to see something), this is a weak film with a not-very-interesting plot.
Ryan McLoughlin

Kick Ass

• Release Date: 2010

• Director: Mathew Vaughn
• Cast: Aaron Johnson, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Mark Strong, Chloe Moretz, Omari
Hardwick
• Plot: A simple inknown boy who really likes his comic books decides that he wants to be a
super hero. He starts fighting bad guys and preventing crime, however, this gets him involved in
crimes to big for him to handle and it all just gets worse.
• Production Company: Marv Films, Plan B Entertainment.
• Cinema Release Date: 26th March 2010
• Trailer: Not available on youtube.
• Box office figures: $19.83m
• Reviews:
• America could probably use a good laugh just about now, what with all the problems
plaguing this society. But the exploitation of children even if they are actors and the special
effects are occasionally awesome, is way beyond just not cool.
• Just when you think it is no longer possible to subvert or reinvent an exhausted genre,
something like Kick-Ass comes along to blow your presuppositions right out of the water.