WATCH: Jack Black And Cate Blanchett Rinse Sonny Jay's Fashion Sense What could be worse than getting roasted by two of the world's most famous actors? Cate Blanchett and Jack Black went in... Jack Black and Cate Blanchett are two of Hollywood's most iconic actors, with two Oscars between them. (Well, they both belong to Cate, but who's counting?) So Sonny Jay was honoured to be able to chat to the pair about their new movie, The House with a Clock in Its Walls. Well, he was until this happened... > Henry Cavill Gets REALLY Freaked Out By Sonny Jay's Weird Questions... Cate Blanchett and Jack Black Premiere Of Universal Pictures' 'The House With A Clock In Its Walls'. Picture: Getty Sonny let the two actors flip the junket on its head, and ask him a few questions, like... Whether or not his hair was real, and why he wasn't wearing socks. Things escalated really quickly when Cate Blanchett soon started swooning for how Sonny Jay managed to look so suave, all by himself. NOTE: If you want to impress an Academy Award-winner, simply tell them you don't need any help putting your pants on. > Download Our App If You Want To Hear Us Catch Up With The World's Biggest Stars!<doc-sep>“The House with a Clock in Its Walls” needs a little TLC. The film is well-scripted, well-intentioned and well-cast, with maximum effort by Jack Black and Cate Blanchett as a warlock and witch trying to solve a mystery in a haunted mansion. But it could use a game of Quidditch, or a car chase, or a road trip somewhere – anywhere – other than the claustrophobic house where the vast majority of the action takes place. Technically it’s a very solid movie, but tonally it has problems, which build with each similarly dark and unsettling scene. The film is directed by Eli Roth, known for his gleefully violent and nihilistic horror films, including “Hostel” and “The Green Inferno.” He makes the PG equivalent here, crafting a movie that pushes the boundaries of the rating, and will be a memorable milestone for young children whose parents go by the very comedic trailers and don’t realize the actual film is relentlessly scary. “The House with a Clock in Its Walls” begins in the 1950s with Lewis (Owen Vaccaro), a 10-year-old orphaned boy who is sent to live with his strange uncle Jonathan (Black), a warlock who bounds around a living house – with a hidden ticking clock at the center. Lewis, Jonathan and their witch neighbor Florence (Cate Blanchett) create an odd but endearing family unit, before an evil is unleashed in the second act. After that, “Clock” is basically “It,” minus the scary clown. Lewis learns magic spells and raises the dead and battles vomiting pumpkins at night, with the occasional welcome scene or two in the light of day at his elementary school. Based on John Bellairs’ 1973 book by the same name, “The House with a Clock in Its Walls” is all charm and production design in the beginning, led by the lively energy of Black and the wonderful nuance of Blanchett. You could put Blanchett up against anyone, including Meryl Streep, in a contest of subtle glances. She’s superb in this film, especially when her character’s own sad history comes into view. The house is fun as well, blending visual effects artistry with imagination and a steady creepiness. There are very few cheap jump scares in “The House with a Clock in Its Walls,” just a building sense of fear and dread, which reaches your-children-will-be-sleeping-in-your-bed-this-week levels once the big evil has risen. We’re maybe two small shovelfuls of dirt away from a “Pet Sematary” sequel here. (And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. Jim Henson liked to scare small children, too.) The problems aren’t with content but with pacing. The house is relentlessly dark, and its odd quirks start to feel repetitive. As the plot thickens, we get fewer scenes with Black and Blanchett in fun banter, and more dread. Movie cliches add to the sense of slog, as Lewis is too easily tricked into releasing the Big Bad, takes way too long to fess up to his error, and is treated sympathetically … despite possibly ending the world. It’s understandable why the “Clock” commercials in particular are so deceptive, seemingly cramming in every light and jokey moment into 30 seconds. Above-average quality aside, the film has no clear target audience. The scariness limits the age range of children who will leave satisfied. And the lightness on action and adult horror will disappoint Eli Roth’s core audience. By the end, the 105-minute movie feels another third as long. You’ll probably respect the effort. But you’ll be more than happy to leave “The House With a Clock in Its Walls.” LThe House with a Clock in Its Walls: Adventure/horror. Starring Jack Black, Cate Blanchett, Colleen Camp and Owen Vaccaro. Trailer and Showtimes Movie Details Find Showtimes The House With a Clock in Its Walls Fantasy PG<doc-sep>
Cabin Fever. Hostel. Death Wish. Eli Roth’s résumé wouldn’t make him the most obvious candidate to adapt John Bellairs’s 1973 kid-lit classic The House With a Clock in Its Walls into a PG-rated romp, but the director best known for grisly horror and blood-soaked kills is clearly turning over a new leaf. “The idea was to do an old-school Amblin movie, but for a new generation,” said Roth (watch above), referring to the production company co-founded by Steven Spielberg that was behind ’80s classics like E.T., Gremlins, and The Goonies. Amblin Entertainment produces the new film version of House, which is about a boy (played by Owen Vaccaro) who moves in with his Uncle (Jack Black) in a sleepy Michigan town only to discover supernatural oddities in his new abode. “There was this world of PG scary movies that I just feel isn’t done anymore. It feels like kids’ movies now are either superhero movies and animated movies. And while that’s great, there isn’t a movie that if you love scary movies, you can take your kids to.” As Roth told Vaccaro, House With a Clock on Its Walls is a “gateway” horror movie. Cate Blanchett, the Oscar winner and mother of four who previously forayed into kids’ flicks with Disney’s 2015 hit Cinderella, plays the boy’s new neighbor, who, like his uncle, practices mystic arts. “Oftentimes, films say, ‘Let’s not show the monster under the bed.’ Kids need to see the monster under the bed. And it’s thrilling for parents to sort of revisit their own scares and fears that they had when they saw films in their childhood and go through that with your kids. Because I think kids are much more robust and excitable than we allow them to be in contemporary cinema.” Black, who last dabbled in children’s horror (chi-hor?) with 2015’s Goosebumps, says the approach isn’t any different when gearing scares for the preteen set. “We just approach it the same as you would any movie, whether its kids in the audience or grown-ups in the audience,” he said. “When they were making Raiders of the Lost Ark, were they thinking, ‘How do we keep this safe and sane for the kids?’ No, they’re like, ‘Let’s party! '” Story continues The House With a Clock in Its Walls opens Friday. Watch the trailer: Read more on Yahoo Entertainment: