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jayruffell
Reviews
Raw Deal (1986)
An under rated film if ever I saw one.
I honestly think this movie deserves more acknowledgement than it gets.
At its core it's an Arnie film, but it's unlike all his other films, his character actually goes undercover, the most overt action star posing as a gangster to infiltrate the mob and avenge the death of his friends son.
The music is great and compliments every scene it's composed for, with fun action scenes, especially the casino being one if my favourites, Arnie is and always will be a unique legend, I always recommend this film to people I meet who say they like Arnie, because weirdly it got missed by a lot of people, including his fans.
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry (2023)
Utterly miserable film
I did not leave the cinema feeling happy after watching this film.
It's extremely depressing, I expected more laughs but got only a few "humph" moments of comedy that didn't warrant a real laugh. Ultimately it's a miserable story about loss and grief that leaves you feeling well and truly deflated, I've no idea how any of the other reviews could describe the story as uplifting, every motivated moment Harold has, as a consequence destroys his wife who is at home crying her eyes out.
Jim Broadbent and cast perform well, the characters really get to you and I felt sympathy and occasionally anger towards all the main characters.
My advice is just don't watch this film if you're having a bad week, you'll fall into a depression and most likely swan dive from the nearest bridge or building.
The Game (1997)
A really dumb idea (review with spoilers)
It's extremely hard to voice how stupid the end of this film was without spoilers so I will spoil, a lot.
Firstly, if this happened to me, or anyone actually, I wouldn't be suddenly humbled by the experience, I would be mad as hell, I would chin everyone in that room, especially Sean Penn for putting me through something so traumatic and inconvenient on my schedule.
Secondly, the ending is actually so weak, that a supporting character makes a joke about "having to throw Michael Douglas off the roof if he hadn't jumped himself" if only to illustrate my first point, these people drove him to literal suicide.
Extremely well filmed movie, engaging, good performances, but the ending annoyed me because it was so absurd.
CEO of the company murder and suicide or murder and death by shootout, although done before, would've actually made sense.
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023)
A fun, swashbuckling sword and sorcery adventure
Sword and sorcery movies pop up now and again, after their popularity during the 80s but forever let down by bad CGI and poor acting (amongst others issues) we still get the odd one pop up.
D&D was great in my opinion, although more of a fantasy element to it, it reminded me of Pirates of the Caribbean or Zorro with its tongue in cheek, unlikely companions, comedy and action.
It far outshines the underwhelming Warcraft movie.
The action was great by the way, really well choreographed and good fun.
I liked the story and how it evolved, it kept me watching despite some moron kicking my chair during the screening.
All in all, I'd recommend it, don't expect a LOTR movie, but it's quality in its own way.
Beavis and Butt-Head (2022)
Actually better than the original.
When I found out Paramount had made another season of Beavis and Butthead I was thrilled to hear.
The original series saw the two knuckle heads being extremely stupid and lounging about watching music videos, the show was a great way of seeing obscure bands and their music videos, often introducing me to bands I'd never heard of, I remember them reviewing Danzig How the gods kill and I was thinking what a great song I'll check them out, MTV struck gold in my opinion, great stoner show also if you enjoy weed.
The latest season however really is funny, catering to a modern audience by having beavis and butthead review streamers and influencers which is hysterical at times, the episode where they review the survivalist was absolutely amazing, it had my 58 year old mum laughing.
Highly ridiculous, crude experience which I thoroughly enjoyed.
The Woman King (2022)
Slave traders battling the anti-Slavers
All I can say is wow Hollywood, talk about choosing the narrative.
This tribe portrayed so brilliantly on screen were renowned slavers, kidnapping other africans and either selling them or keeping them for servitude.
How the movie studio could think that it was okay to turn a very dark chapter of history into some female empowerment story I've no idea yet the blind are falling for it as usual, do your research folks and you'll be shocked with the truth of this ruthless and merciless tribe of cruel characters fighting only to oppress their own kind, the glorification of this films side of events tries to over shadow and hide the truth.
Hostiles (2017)
Amazing film, fantastic acting, great script.
Well let's start with Bale, honestly one of the best actors of all time, so much variety to his many performances i will watch any film that he is in, he's able to show every emotion, pick good scripts and is genuinely one of the finest actors on screen. (And he was Batman)
The supporting cast, some of them unknown to me were also very, very good.
The opening scene is brutal, expect a shock and it is a very deep film, I felt for every character.
The script, story telling, the acting, the action and drama is so good in this film I don't know why it's only a 7.2, it blows movies like 3:10 to Yuma out of the water. I very much Highly recommend 8.5/10.
Sunshine (2007)
Event Horizon but with a critically acclaimed writer/director
Disappointing.
Alex Garland is the ultimate expert at creating stories with underwhelming, unexplained or simply no ending.
Evidenced most recently by the shocking Men.
I watched Sunshine in 2022 for the first time, I found the first half of the film reasonably engaging but the standard "space movie" where a series of accidents happen during the voyage that causes the death of various crewmen was very samey, the story as a result being rather unremarkable.
Danny Boyle directs fine, but the final climax and big reveal is shown in a seriously annoying blurry, shaky camera view that looks amateur as Hell.
Sunshine is okay, but it's a 6.5/10 at best.