Bill Hader

News, Reviews & Features
  • Review: It Chapter Two is a great bookend, but where's the tl;dr version?

    Movie Review | Matt Looker | 3rd September 2019

    2017’s It was such a huge success that it has reignited not only a demand for more Stephen King adaptations, but also a desire for high quality scares again. But there’s a downside to being the highest grossing horror film of all time - and I’m not talking about Pennywise making it harder for real-life clowns like Bongo Bonzo And Catty Watty Boom Boom (both local to me - I searched the directory) to find work. No, the downside is that, for this follow-up, the filmmaking team appear to have been left more unchecked. This sequel is far longer than it needs to be, far funnier than it makes sense to be and filled with so many meme-worthy visuals that it seems to have been made purely for Twitter retorts. In short, it’s an overlong carnival for the senses, and that’s in addition to Pennywise continuing to give clowns like Bongo Bonzo and Catty Watty a bad name.

  • The BFG

    Movie Review | Ed Williamson | 26th July 2016

    As a child of the eighties you notice as you get older that a lot of contemporary mainstream entertainment seems designed to take you back there. Now there's a distinctive crossover demographic: those of us in our thirties who went nuts for Spielberg and Star Wars at the time, and now have our own children whom we want to show the originals and take to see reboots. For my generation the prospect of Spielberg doing The BFG is an intersection in a Venn diagram where we hold each circle very dear, and there's only so bad it could possibly turn out. But it should've been better.

  • Inside Out

    Movie Review | Matt Looker | 26th July 2015

    We've all seen the list of Pixar's story concepts throughout the years, right? 1995: What if toys had feelings, 1998: What if bugs had feelings, etc until we get to the Inside Out punchline: What if feelings had feelings? It's an apt joke, not just because you can imagine that this formula for success was actually decided years ago in a boardroom somewhere, but because Inside Out really does feel like the ultimate Pixar film. In terms of fun, emotion, gags and - yes - cries, Inside Out meets the very best of what the studio has done to date, and it does so within a simple, lovable realisation of an incredibly complicated abstract concept. This really is Pinnacle Pixar.

  • Paul

    Movie Review | Ali | 19th February 2011

    A movie made by geeks, for geeks, about geeks... Sounds awful, doesn't it? Don't make the mistake of writing off Paul as giant bout of auto-fellatio on the part of uber-nerds Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, because despite appearances - and loads and loads and loads of science-fiction in-jokes - it's actually great fun, well-written and extremely enjoyable. Seriously though, Paul is so full of nods and wink, it's like it has a facial tic - Spaced's homage-o-meter would be overheating under the strain.

  • Adventureland

    Movie Review | Matt | 13th September 2009

    Chances are, you had a crap job when you were younger. One where you resented every second you had to stack a shelf or greet a customer, but one where you had good friends, bad relationships and as many laughs as you had woes. Looking back now, it probably seems like a wonderfully complicated time. Welcome to Adventureland.

  • Forgetting Sarah Marshall

    Movie Review | Ali | 27th April 2008

    For all the fuss surrounding producer Judd Apatow's comedies, there are some people involved in his movies that have been seriously neglected for their contributions. The 40 Year-Old Virgin wouldn't have worked half as well without co-writer and wax-resistant star Steve Carell in the title role; Knocked Up birthed not one but tw...

  • Superbad

    Movie Review | Ali | 19th August 2007

    Remember being the age where you were young, dumb and full of something you would later learn was called cum? That socially retarded, awkward as all hell, moist-panted phase towards the end of school and the beginning of the rest of your life? The age when all you and your buddies wanted to do was get laid (but didn't know why) ...