It’s Mini-Kicker time where I review the latest releases in bite-sized chunks. Let’s get stuck in before I start making myself hungry. This time the movies come from three different continents, are set in three different time periods, and all three feature men having objects inserted into their butts. For some reason I don’t feel like eating anymore. Bon Appetit!

Grimsby (2016)

The latest from the disgusting mind of Borat creator Sasha Baron Cohen is a comic subversion of the spy genre. Cohen plays Nobby Butcher, a football hooligan from Grimsby who finds his long lost brother who is now a James Bond style secret agent. It’s a strong premise that the writers fail to capitalize on by going for quantity of jokes instead of quality. Most gags consist of Nobby sticking something in his ass which is funny the first couple of times but gets tiresome. Grimsby produces nothing truly memorable apart from a scene with an elephant that goes from gross to funny to horrible to hilarious. Credit goes to Mark Strong who throws himself into his role as Nobby’s little bro. There are a few great jokes that aren’t based around asses and balls but they’re not enough to save Grimsby from being a hugely uneven affair.

6/10

Grimsby is released on 24th February so you can see it now!

The Smuggler (2014)

Also known as The Mule in Australia, this true story from down under is directed by Tony Mahony and Angus Sampson and co-written by Leigh Whannell of Saw fame. It’s essentially the story of a group of cops sitting around waiting for a man to take a dump. Now you’re intrigued! The Smuggler is set in 1983 and is about a vulnerable man (played brilliantly by co-director Sampson) who was coerced into smuggling heroin from Bangkok in his stomach. When he’s picked up at customs the police led by Hugo Weaving (playing a total asshole) he’s holed up in a motel while the cops wait for his bowels to move. Events are complicated by local gangsters and family problems at home. The Smuggler explores how we treat vulnerable people and how communities exploit the weaker members of society. It’s also not for the squeamish as it deals with the realities of avoiding the toilet. The cast is great particularly John Noble as a scary local mob boss and Sampson as the titular smuggler in this ‘truth is stranger than fiction’ drama.

8/10

The Smuggler is available now on DVD and on VOD from 29th February

Bone Tomahawk (2015)

I’ll watch anything with Kurt Russell in it, I’ve even sat through Soldier twice. So it’s always great when he’s in a really good movie. Bone Tomahawk is a Western in the mold of The Searchers with Russell leading a posse of cowboy archetypes to rescue captives of a vicious tribe of cannibals. It’s a strange film that ambles along with the guys slowly bonding and revealing their characters, before everything goes to hell in a truly disturbing twist to the tale. It’s like a cross between The Revenant and The Hills Have Eyes so it isn’t for the faint of heart. Great performances from Russell, Patrick Wilson, and especially Richard Jenkins as the Walter Brennan style deputy sheriff make Bone Tomahawk a thoughtful, troubling and original take on the Western.

8/10

Bone Tomahawk is showing in select cinemas in the UK right now!

Have you seen any of these? Have you ever been to Grimsby? Have you ever smuggled drugs in your stomach? Have you ever led a posse against cannibals?  Let me know in the comments below.