#OnTheBigScreen: The Bad Guys and The Last Bus

The Bad Guys

Packed with high-octane energy and sharp cultural references, The Bad Guys represents a bold, stylish, new artistic direction for DreamWorks Animation.

In this action-comedy, a crackerjack criminal crew of animal outlaws are about to attempt their most challenging con yet—becoming model citizens. After years of countless heists and being the world’s most-wanted villains, the gang is finally caught, Mr. Wolf brokers a deal (that he has no intention of keeping) to save them all from prison: The Bad Guys will go good.

Under the tutelage of their mentor Professor Marmalade an arrogant (but adorable!) guinea pig, The Bad Guys set out to fool the world that they’ve been transformed. Along the way, though, Mr. Wolf begins to suspect that doing good for real may give him what he’s always secretly longed for: acceptance. So, when a new villain threatens the city, can Mr. Wolf persuade the rest of the gang to become…The Good Guys?

“The Bad Guys successfully tweaks the heist genre for families and commits to it with energy and cool embedded in everything,” says DreamWorks Animation’s new president, Margie Cohn. “The nonstop energetic pace; innovative, gorgeous production design; cartoony elements in pristine CG animation; lighting; score; our perfect cast—it adds up to an immersive experience with a tone, unlike any other animated movie.”

The Bad Guys originated as a Scholastic book series from Australian author Aaron Blabey, a New York Times bestseller with around 30 million books in print. The film is directed by Pierre Perifel from a screenplay by Etan Cohen.

Read more here.

The Last Bus

Every now and again, a film comes along that reminds us that we are not alone and that we're all on this ride together.

In this British drama, 90-year-old Tom Harper (Spall) on an epic trip from his home of fifty years, a remote village in the most northerly point of Scotland, back to the place he was born – close to England’s most southerly point. Battling against time, age and fate, desperate to keep a promise to his beloved wife Mary (Phyllis Logan), our intrepid hero Tom embarks on an odyssey, revisiting his past, connecting with the modern world and a diverse, multi-cultural Britain he has never experienced.

Using only local buses, with his pensioner’s ticket, Tom leaves his home in John o’ Groats, a location on Scotland’s northernmost point, and heads to Land’s End in the southwest England (a nearly 1 350 km journey), carrying his late wife’s ashes, to scatter them according to her wishes.

“The Last Bus is a road movie, a film about love, loss and the power of the human spirit,” said Benjamin Cowley, CEO Gravel Road Distribution Group. “It touches on the theme of grief and coming to terms with one’s own mortality graciously with a storyline that is gentle, heart-warming and endearing.”

Read more about the latest and upcoming films here.