Boiling Point (2022) review

 This 2021 British release is six years too young to appear on IMDB's 2015 edition of the top 1000 films of all time.

Andy (Stephen Graham) is a head chef of a top London restaurant during one busy service. We get a day in the life both he and his team including his sous-chef Carly (Vinette Robinson) and the Maitre-D Beth (Alice Feetham.)

Boiling Point is a one-take film. There aren't any cuts anywhere, as such it has a brilliant energy that keeps the film so engrossing to watch. Day-in-the-life films could have the tendency to be boring or repetitive but that was far from the case here. The action always remained urgent and immediate.

In many ways, it stayed true to what it must be like to work in a kitchen. Thankfully, I never have done, but I have heard the stories. I know that it is a stressful, fast-paced environment. That is especially true of Boiling Point where personalities clash and some big mistakes are made.

Stephen Graham was excellent as the over-stressed head-chef juggling a nasty divorce and his intense job. Meanwhile, he is hiding a dark secret. He is a brilliant actor who is so versatile. This is the same man who plays a gangster in Boardwalk Empire, a soldier in Band of Brothers, a white nationalist in this is England and a prison office in Time.

Yet he can't take all the credit, as there were no weak links in the cast. Boiling Point succeeded b making all its characters interesting. Even though some have more screentime than others, I found myself caring about all of Andy's kitchen brigade from the porters to the pastry chefs.

And we also see the struggles of the front-of-house staff as waitresses Robyn (Aine Rose Daly) and Andrea (Lauryn Ajufo.) have to deal with the rudest (and in Andrea's case) racist customers. For many service staff who deals with these Karens on a daily basis, I'm sure these scenes hit far too close to home. And these customers were Karens to the extreme from telling Andrea how to pour wine and demanding that their roast lamb be cooked well done when it is traditionally served rare.

Meanwhile, there are other customers - or, rather, influencers with ten thousand followers who think they're too good for the restaurant's elegant menu, instead asking for steak and chips. Maitre'D Beth is only too happy to oblige which only puts more stresses on the kitchen. There's so much going on that there is never a dull moment. It's all a pressure cooker waiting to explode.

And that comes in Carly's evisceration of Beth. Both actresses shone especially Alice Feetham who is forced to keep herself from crying despite having her arse handed to her. It's a brilliant little scene.

And that is a perfect way to summarise Boiling Point. Think of it as a ten-course tasting menu where we have a collection of little dishes that wouldn't be much on their own, but come together to create a delicious meal.

South Park: Longer, Bigger, Uncut review

 Number 499 on the top 1000 films of all time is the animated black comedy 'South Park: Longer, Bigger, Uncut.'

This film was inspired by the TV series of the same name and featured all out favourite characters including Cartman, Kyle, Stan, Kenny and Chef. The four boys sneak into an R-rated, Canadian film called Asses of Fire. It is a vulgar and crude film that influences them to start swearing profusely. Their mothers start campaigning for the film and the creators to be executed - sending a moral panic across the US. Meanwhile, after dying one too many times, Kenny is consigned to hell where he discovers a secret plot between Satan and Saddam Hussein to take over the world.

I'm going to preface this review by saying that I don't like South Park. I have watched the first season and I found it juvenile, repetitive and boring. This film is supposed to be a satire of censorship. People should have the freedom to joke about what they like without any consequences. I get that, but I think there were more subtle and sophisticated ways to have gone about it. A lot of the film's humour is based around shock factor and being as offensive as possible. That's all well and good, but that type of outrage humour only works in moderation.

Sure it might have been funny hearing Kyle and Stan sing about "Uncle Fucker" or Cartman telling Mr Garrison to "suck my balls," once or twice, but hearing it over and over became very tedious. I'm sure I'll get some denouncing me as a liberal snowflake, but I don't have a problem, as such, with the content of the jokes, but with how they were told. There is a small clip of Chinese people - drawn in stereotypical ways, singing the Uncle Fucker song in mock Chinese. I am of a Chinese heritage and I didn't find this offensive. In fact, it was so silly, it was actually funny. It's a shame there weren't more jokes like this instead of the monotonous use of vulgar swear words in lieu of any humour.

I much preferred the subplot concerning Kenny, Satan and Saddam Hussein. Not only are the two conspiring to take over the world, but they're also in a relationship. This was so ridiculous that it was hilarious to watch. To see two of the evilest people in history become a bickering, married couple was a clever and funny idea.

South Park wasn't the movie for me. I didn't find it funny. As I always say, there isn't anything wrong with dark/shock humour, as long as it's clever, and not just shocking for shocking's sake.