Johnny English

[GeneChing]

This should probably go in media, but given the Shaolin connection, I'm starting it here.

Premieres Oct 28, 2011.

Johnny English Reborn (2011) Official HD Trailer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gh-Lubu94nA)


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Caught & Social: Rowan keeps lucky on road and screen
(http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2011/09/05/caught-social-rowan-keeps-lucky-on-road-and-screen/)
By Luke Blackall
Notebook
Monday, 5 September 2011 at 12:52 pm

http://blogs.independent.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Untitled-18-300x265.jpg
Caught & Social: Rowan keeps lucky on road and screenRowan Atkinson looked the picture of serenity as he posed with Shaolin monks at the premiere of Johnny English Reborn in Sydney. The actor is recovering from a car crash in which his supercar drove into a tree, a lamppost and ended up on fire. “I’m well aware that the older you get, the more you realise how big a part luck plays in your life, whether it’s to do with cars or career actually,”Atkinson told Australia’s Sunday Herald Sun. “When you are young and successful, you think you deserve it. And when you are older and still successful, you begin to feel that luck has played a major part.” He was also philosophical about the quality of his latest film, which costars Rosamund Pike. “It’s not high art, I should warn everyone of that,”he says. “My personal belief is it is a better film in absolute terms than the first one.”

[LFJ]

Brilliant! I just wish I could open youtube to see the trailer.... now I know what RDH feels like. :(

[RenDaHai]

Brilliant! I just wish I could open youtube to see the trailer.... now I know what RDH feels like. :(

Ahaha, When I first read this I didn't realise you were talking about not being able to see YouTube, I thought you were looking at the photo above and saying 'now I know how RDH feels...' .

[LFJ]

Johnny English in Shaolin = RDH :D

[GeneChing]

Remember when Rowan was going to work with Jackie? (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/ezine/article.php?article=391)

Not the sharpest knife in the comedy drawer (http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/movies/not-the-sharpest-knife-in-the-comedy-drawer-20110914-1k9gz.html)
Giles Hardie
September 15, 2011

Genre
Comedy
Actors
Rowan Atkinson, Rosamund Pike, Gillian Anderson,
Director
Oliver Parker
OFLC rating
PG
Year
2011
Language
English

JOHNNY ENGLISH REBORN

Directed by Oliver Parker

Written by Hamish McColl from a story by William Davies
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Rated PG, 101 minutes

JOHNNY ENGLISH has been reborn. Not rebooted, nor reimagined, not even reworked in any real sense. No, Rowan Atkinson has just slapped a new coat of paint on the old, simple and somewhat tired James Bond clown-car. Which is to say, if you didn't like the first Johnny English, Johnny English Reborn will be about as enjoyable as watching a stranger's home video of the birth of their child.

The rebirth of the title refers to English's emergence from a Shaolin monastic retreat but could just as easily be a reference to the new lease of life aspired to by a comedy character that was ill-received on his first outing.

Credit must be given for the way the film mirrors that real-life misstep. Johnny English re-emerges, as a character and a title, after a long self-imposed exile following a widely publicised debacle. English was responsible for an embarrassing MI-7 disaster in Mozambique (or Doh-zambique, as one tabloid headline screams) that destroyed his name and confidence. Brought back at the request of an informant with details of an attack on the Chinese premier, English finds a vastly changed intelligence community and country.

Gillian Anderson's Agent Pegasus is in charge, running an all-talk, no-action agency, evidenced by the importance given the likes of Rosamund Pike's Kate Sumner, a vastly intuitive pshycho-analyst, adviser and part- time love interest for our hero.

English is a dinosaur as well as an arrogant, incompetent buffoon. In true comedy-action style, only by combining all these non-skills can he save the world. He is also teamed with a junior partner-cum-minder in the form of Agent Tucker, played by impressive newcomer Daniel Kaluuya, who helps put the odd into ''odd couple''.

Atkinson throws every comedy trick in his diverse arsenal at this film - rubber-faced Bean-isms, gross stupidity, slapstick, word plays, farce, absurdity and diverse physical oddities - and the result is a hectic, haphazard mix of the occasionally hysterical with the too-often hopeless.

The film is at its best when it owns Atkinson's (and by extension English's) age. The getting of wisdom, a notion riffed on comedically and thematically, allows our hero to occasionally downplay some scenes. These work best, providing all too rare glimpses of the genuine comedic genius of Atkinson that unrequited lovers of Blackadder and Rowan Atkinson Live will yearn for while watching this film. Meanwhile, those who yearned for the second coming of Johnny English, your saviour is (re)born.

[GeneChing]

JOHNNY ENGLISH REBORN – The Review (http://wearemoviegeeks.com/2011/10/johnny-english-reborn-the-review/)

The idea of a funny, bumbling secret agent is nearly as old as the spy thriller film. Of course they’ve had their forefathers in the comedy cops and detectives that emerged in the silents ( Buster Keaton in SHERLOCK, JR. ) and the talkies ( Bob Hope in MY FAVORITE BRUNETTE, and gumshoes played by Laurel and Hardy, Abbott and Costello, the Bowery Boys, and the Three Stooges ). In the swingin’ sixties there was the ultimate incompetent Inspector Closeau in the Pink Panther film series and on TV it was ” Car 54, Where Are You?’ and that legend of Mayberry, Deputy Barney Fife ( played to perfection by the multiple Emmy-winning Don Knotts ). There were a few secret agents during the Golden Age ( and Bob Hope, again, in MY FAVORITE SPY ), but it wasn’t till we were introduced to 007 during the cold war that the big and small screen was filled gadget-heavy trench coats. Of course there were some satirical elements in the Bond flicks, which we ramped up in his American counterparts, Derek Flint and Matt Helm. And there was an ongoing TV spy farce in the classic ” Get Smart ” ( which would inspire a feature film in 1980 with Don Addams, THE NUDE BOMB AKA THE RETURN OF MAXWELL SMART and in 2008, a movie remake, GET SMART, with Steve Carell stepping into the shoe phone ). And of course there’s Mike Meyers’s incredibly popular Austin Powers film series that started in 1997. Across the pond in England, Rowan Atkinson ( who had great success with films based on his Mr. Bean TV persona ) decided to don the black tux and became JOHNNY ENGLISH in 2003. Since that film, we’ve gotten a new movie Bond in Daniel Craig, who’s injected a lot of excitement ( and big box office) in the long-running series. And So Atkinson has decided to revisit his character in JOHNNY ENGLISH REBORN to see if there’s still some spy stuff worth parodying.

In the present day two VIPs discuss a new threat on world security. There’s only one man for the job. But where is Johnny English? He’s at a Shaolin Temple, training and meditating after a disastrous assignment in Mozambique ( English’s eye twitches at the ” M word” ). Soon he’s chopped off his long hair and goatee and is back at MI-7 headquarters ( in a truly great bit of satire a global conglomerate has taken over the agency ). English meets his new boss Pegasus ( Gillian Anderson ), his eager young agent-in-training, Tucker( Daniel Kayluuya ), a lovely body-language expert ( Rosamund Pike ), and his old spy buddy, Agent Ambrose ( Dominic West ). First stop for English and Tucker is Hong Kong where they meet up with a former CIA agent ( Richard Schiff ). Seems he’s part of an ultra-secret assassination agency named Vortex. He’s on the run because the other two Vortex heads ( and ex KGB man and a MI-7 agent ) are out to kill him for his segment of a key that will help enable them to stage a murder that will start a war. Sounds like English is up to his neck in hired killers, double crosses, and global conspiracies once again. Will he overcome his bumbling and save the day?

Well, I think we’ve got a good hunch about that. The real question is whether this is a funnier outing than the rather tepid original. There’s no big surprises in the plot, so we’re looking at a loosely connected series of sight gag sequences ( much like his Mr. Bean flicks ). Like the Bean films this hopes to be a family friendly comedy ( it’s rated PG ), so I was taken aback by the many crotch striking gags ( in the Shaolin temple we cut from one to another ) and a flashback hot tub scene with a busty double agent in a teeny bikini. In a nod to the last Craig Bond epic we get a pursuit through buildings under construction ( Atkinson doe not attempt the acrobatic leaps ). Most of the sequences tend to go on for too long without a big pay-off. There’s the mistaken assassin bit that’s repeated several times. English tours the weapons division and, shockingly, causes all manner of destruction. In a nod to GOLDFINGER, English tees off against a baddy at a golf course ( Johnny can’t golf! ) which leads into a tiresome helicopter chase ( a chase scene with English in a super souped-up wheelchair is monotonous too ).The supporting players are not given much to do besides stare incredulously at Atkinson’s antics. Kaluuya brings a bit of youthful enthusiasm to his scenes, but never really gets the chance to shine. Pike, as in BARNEY’S VERSION, plays another gorgeous, smart woman inexplicably drawn to a schlub. West can only flash his handsome, big grin and try an encourage his old pal. The casting of Anderson is curious. Perhaps this is a nod to Judy Dench’s M in the last few Bond films. It’s difficult to accept the still gorgeous ex-X-filer in a role that’s usually played by an older, more paternal actress ( or actor ). The film would’ve een greatly benefitted with an edit that would get it closer to 90 minutes ( the kids are gonna’ squirm ). Atkinson is a terrific physical comedians who harkens back to the great silent icons ( with a bit of Tati ), but he can’t give life to this attempt at spy satire. I hope he’ll retire English and dust off his TV classic ” Blackadder ” for the big screen. He can show off his wonderful verbal skill along with his pratfalls. I hope he’ll not tone him down ( please no PG fluff ). Now, that would truly be worth a trip to the multiplex! Alas, for the days of Blackadder...

[GeneChing]

...and report back here. Someone from the Shaolin forum... Anyone...?

Movie Review - Johnny English Reborn (http://www.gardneredge.com/news/2011/10/24/5019-movie-review-johnny-english-reborn)
Posted on Oct. 24th, 2011
Mark Burgat

http://www.gardneredge.com/news_gallery/featured_image_6580.jpg
Title: Johnny English Reborn
Starring: Rowan Akinson, Daniel Kaluuya, Rosamund Pike
MPAA Rating: PG
Star Rating: 2½ out of 4 stars

As I drove to the theater to see this movie, I tried to recollect the events of the first Johnny English. I kept trying and trying but this was what my mind drew up:

___________________________

So, needless to say I was a little amazed that they came out with a sequel, considering how memorable the first film was. All I remember is that I saw it while watching small children who put it in the DVD player and laughed their little heads off. I do remember not hating the movie, but I also remember seeing much better James Bond parodies.

In this sequel Johnny English (played by British comedian Rowan Akinson) is found in a Shaolin temple somewhere in Tibet, where he is trying to find peace within himself by learning Shaolin Kung Fu. Here he learns everything basic martial arts moves, to what is referred to as "Groin Skill" (a real life Kung Fu training technique that is supposed to make one's groin invincible to kicks. I point this out because this is the set up for a few gags revolving around this technique). Suddenly, English gets a call back to the secret organization, MI7 based in London. MI7 fired him after failing a mission in Mozambique to be a bodyguard to the newly inaugurated President. Naturally MI7 doesn't want anything to do with English, but he's apparently the only agent that an ex-CIA agent will relay some confidential information to.

The CIA agent reveals that he is part of a three man crew called Vortex, and each of three has a key that can open a safe that keeps a weapon that was supposed to be destroyed. The CIA agent, shortly after giving this information is then assassinated by Vortex minions. It is now, up to Johnny English and his partner Tucker to retrieve all three keys before the other members of Vortex, whose goal is to use the weapon to assassinate the Chinese Premier at a piece conference with the Chinese Prime Minister.

I feel very much the same way I did about the first movie, but I have a feeling I'll be remembering this movie a little more. For one thing I'm writing it, and another thing is that there were actually scenes in the movie that made me laugh out loud. The scenes in the Kung are surprisingly humorous, and there is also a scene where Johnny English gets chased by MI7 (after being framed for being one of the members of Vortex) on a remote controlled wheelchair. The thing that is special about the wheelchair is that it was actually made by MI7's weapons designer (who also owned the chair), so this chair has a lot of gadgets to keep this scene entertaining.

There were also a few other scenes that were laugh out loud funny, but that was only about 25% of the time. 50% of the time was just small giggles that escaped my mouth, and another 25% was burying my head in my palms out of sheer embarrassment that I was watching what was on screen. A time I could name where I had my head buried in my palms was a scene where Johnny English found that an assassin had infiltrated his boss's home (his boss, the head of MI7, is played by Gillian Anderson). English is attacked, then he gives chase, and caches up with somebody who he thinks is the assassin, but is actually his boss's mother. This is an honest mistake however, because they look the same from behind. Funny, right? Not in this case. We've seen this gag none a thousand times in other movies, better and funnier. In fact, you can say that you've seen a lot of these jokes before. You might be able to say that you've seen this movie before without actually seeing the movie.

My other big criticism toward the film is product placement. Writers should learn that unless your movie parodies an industry as a whole, it is not a good idea to use your product placement as a joke. In the movie, the secret organization MI7's cover is Toshiba British Intelligence. In my opinion, those three words shouldn't be in the same sentence, unless British Intelligence buys Toshiba products. I don't mind product placement as long as it is subtle. Heck, if a movie is going to joke about it I'm all for it if it is clever (example of clever use would be 1992's "Wayne's World"). The use of it is not only not clever, but insulting. This movie wants us to laugh and think this is an innocent jab at product placement, while including the fictitious slogan "Spying for You". Later in the movie, Johnny parachutes off a cliff and we see that slogan on the parachute as it opens. Now who do you suppose I want to buy a computer from thanks to this movie? There's a fine line between product placement and flat out advertising, and this is an example of the latter.

"Johnny English Reborn" is not without its saving graces though. The only reason my friends and myself decided to go see this movie is because we are big fans of Rowan Akinson. Akinson's performance is just priceless, as he always is. I've been a fan of his since watching "Mr. Bean", a show that made him a star in America. However, my favorite Rowan Akinson performance has to be in the British TV show "Blackadder" (a show that asks such life altering questions as, "What starts with ‘come here' and ends with ‘ow'?"). I think for adults, a key to liking this movie (if not simply tolerating it), is liking Rowan Akinson.

The other performers are not so bad either, Akinson has good support cast to play off of. Some of the best scenes are probably when Akinson is on screen with Rosamund Pike, who plays Johnny English's love interest, their romantic scenes are cute. But good acting does not always make good characters. That heavily revolves around the writing. And the writers were just so focused on giving Johnny English so many wacky things to do that the rest of the characters seem so underdeveloped. It is really heartbreaking to see the writing suffer in this way, because "Johnny English Reborn" takes strides to be more than it is, but stops two feet short of the finish line.

Yes, this movie is full of flaws, but there is something in the theater that I have to admit influenced my decision to give that extra half star in addition to the two that I would have originally given the film. At the beginning of the film, I was finding the film somewhat mildly amusing, but there were people behind me that were laughing like hyenas. Later as the movie progressed I realized the majority of these people were kids. So yes, as evidence showed in the theater, kids will like this film, (I'd say around 7-12 years old. I guess I could show this film some mercy, after all there were a few moments were I laughed, and I did find the majority of it amusing, who is to say that a few other adults won't as well.

(Note: This film is rated PG for mostly comical violence, and contains character death. If you feel uncomfortable taking your small children to movies with such content, then don't worry, there seem to be more family films coming out as the holiday season rolls around.)

[GeneChing]

...and I moved this from the Shaolin subforum to Media.

I did start to watch Johnny English Reborn, but I think I gave up on it. I'm trying to remember it now.

Meanwhile, here's the next installment.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__c_SVavGF4