Disney+/Netflix Roundup – ‘Ever After’, ‘Knight and Day’ & ‘True Lies’

Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

It’s that time again to share some quick reviews on three films I’ve seen on Disney+ lately. The first is a retelling of the Cinderella story starring Drew Barrymore, the second is an action film starring Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz, and the third is an action-packed comedy starring Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The Cinderella film with Drew Barrymore is called ‘Ever After’ (sometimes called ‘Ever After: A Cinderella Story’). I enjoyed this 1998 film. After seeing a few ‘Cinderella’ films, including the two Disney films from 1950 and 2015, it was refreshing to see a Cinderella film with not much magic in it.

The film itself is a romantic period drama, and instead of being called Cinderella, Drew Barrymore’s character is actually named Danielle. Some of you may know Drew Barrymore for being in the 2000 and 2003 ‘Charlie’s Angels’ films. She’s also appeared in ‘Batman Forever’, where she played Sugar.

Apparently, the film is directed by Andy Tennant (not related to David Tennant, I don’t think 😀 ). The film itself is pleasant and has action-packed moments in it, especially for Drew Barrymore’s character. It’s also a film that doesn’t deviate a lot from the traditional Cinderella story, which is good. 🙂

The film also stars Dougray Scott as Prince Henry of France. Dougray Scott has been in ‘Mission: Impossible 2’ and the ‘Doctor Who’ episode ‘Hide’. 😀 There’s Anjelica Huston who plays Rodmilla, Danielle’s wicked stepmother, and Megan Dodds who plays Margureite, Danielle’s ‘evil’ stepsister. 🙂

There’s Melanie Lynskey as Jacqueline, Danielle’s ‘nice’ stepsister, Patrick Godfrey as Leonardo da Vinci, Lee Ingleby as Gustave, Timothy West as King Francis and Judy Parfitt (who later did ‘Call the Midwife’) as Queen Marie, Jeanne Moreau as the Grande Dame and Toby Jones as the Royal Page. 🙂

The action film with Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz is called ‘Knight and Day’ and was released in 2010. I have to admit, I actually saw this film on Netflix rather than on Disney+, but it still counts, as the film is available to watch on Disney+. I found ‘Knight and Day’ to be a fun and action-packed film.

Having seen Tom Cruise in the ‘Mission: Impossible’ films and hearing Cameron Diaz as Princess Fiona in the ‘Shrek’ films (she’s also been in the 2000 and 2003 ‘Charlie’s Angels’ films with Drew Barrymore), it was irresistible to watch this film with the two of them together. Apparently, this is the second film they’ve worked together, as they did the 2001 film ‘Vanilla Sky’.

The film is directed by James Mangold, who you may know for directing ‘The Wolverine’, ‘Logan’ and recently ‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’. I enjoyed this film about Cameron Diaz as June Havens who ends up caught with Tom Cruise as secret agent Roy Miller who’s on the run from the CIA.

There are a lot of mad moments featured throughout the film, and it’s funny when Cameron Diaz’s character finds herself out of her depth when meeting up with Tom Cruise’s character. It’s nice when Cameron Diaz’s character finds herself falling for Tom Cruise’s character and helping him in the film.

The film’s cast also includes Peter Sarsgaard as John Fitzgerald, Viola Davis as CIA Director Isabel George, Jordi Mollà as Antonio Quintana and Paul Dano as Simon Feck. It was nice to see Gal Gadot appear as Naomi in the film, and this is way before Gal Gadot played Wonder Woman in the ‘DC Extended Universe’.

The action-packed comedy film with Arnold Schwarzenegger is called ‘True Lies’ and was released in 1994. Having seen Arnold Schwarzenegger in ‘Jingle All The Way’ and ‘Batman & Robin’, it was fun to check out this action comedy film with him in the main role, playing a spy like Tom Cruise in ‘M:I’. 😀

‘True Lies’ is directed by James Cameron who’s done and is still doing the ‘Avatar’ films. He also directed a few of the ‘Terminator’ films (Ah, now I know why Arnold Schwarzenegger was cast in this movie 😀 ). I found the first act of this film engaging and enjoyable to watch with Arnold as the spy Harry Tasker. 🙂

The second and third acts are where it fell apart for me, especially when Jamie Lee Curtis as Helen, the wife of Arnold’s character became involved. Don’t get me wrong, the spy story that was in the first act resurfaces in the third act, but it got distracting when Arnold thought his wife was having an affair. 😐

I did make a few ‘Jingle All the Way’ and ‘Batman & Robin’ jokes whilst watching this film, including “You’re my number one customer” and “Put that cookie down” as well as a Mr. Freeze pun at the beginning. ‘True Lies’ also features the late Bill Paxton as Simon, Jamie Lee Curtis’ supposed lover. 😀

There’s Tom Arnold as ‘Gib’ (who is Arnold’s sidekick and best friend), Tia Carrere as Juno Skinner, Art Malik (who’s been in the ‘Doctor Who’ episode ‘The Ghost Monument’, the ‘Sherlock’ episode ‘The Final Problem’ and 2023’s ‘The Little Mermaid’) as Salim Abu Aziz, and there’s Charlie Heston as Spencer Trillby.

Once again, it’s been great to check out a few films on Disney+ lately. ‘Ever After’ is the most enjoyable out of the three, especially with it being a period drama version of the Cinderella story. I also found ‘Knight and Day’ and ‘True Lies’ to be very fun-filled action-packed movies to check out. 🙂

Stay tuned for another Disney+ Roundup on ‘Bradley’s Basement’ soon. 🙂

Thanks for reading!

Bye for now!

Tim 🙂