fuzzdandy-online Reviews

The Green Knight (2021)

It aint Robin Hood Prince of Thieves..

[10/10 · 27 September 2021]

If you take an Arthurian folk tale and create a film inspired by The Wicker Man, Witchfinder General, a modern day folk horror like the VVitch and direct it in the style of somebody like Yorgos Lanthimos, you get a masterpiece called The Green Knight.

It aint robin hood prince of thieves, it's a work of art. A semi-psychedelic, festive, Folk mood piece bursting with creativity. It's mesmerising to just look at. So much thought has gone into each scene that its almost like a prog record (a good one) and will probably appeal to a similar sized fan base. I watched this at home on amazon but would love to see this on the big screen to really be bewitched by the trippy coloured lighting and surrounded by its mix of pulsating sound effects and ethereal, folky soundtrack. Hats off to David Lowery & Dev Patel.

Becoming Nobody (2019)

Peaceful & Amusing

[9/10 · 1 June 2021]

This is a very easy and interesting watch. Contrary to some reviews here I don't think the director gets in the way at all. Ram Dass is quite frail at the time of filming and to get more out of him Director Jaime Catto needs to engage a bit. As soon as Ram Dass is talking the director backs off and lets us listen.

Soul (2020)

Invaluable lesson..

[10/10 · 28 December 2020]

A very clever way of showing an appreciation of life. That just being here is amazing & that everything we experience in life is amazing. An invaluable lesson for everyone.

The Personal History of David Copperfield (2019)

If anyone slates this it is for the wrong reasons

[10/10 · 25 January 2020]

Very enjoyable take on Charles Dickens' classic novel. Clever direction, great performances (especially from Dev Patel & Hugh Laurie) & a very funny script, as you'd expect from an Armando Iannucci film. At the time of writing this film currently has 5.8 on IMDB. Totally unfair. Most of the negative reviews seem to be for entirely the wrong reasons & that's a real shame. Like it wouldn't matter how good the film, the direction & acting was, it would never win those haters over because minds were probably made up as soon as they'd decided that the casting didn't match their very strange ideas of who should play who & why. Nothing lower than a 7 is a fair rating for this film.

A Christmas Carol (2019)

Disappointed

[2/10 · 24 December 2019]

The Scrooge isn't Scrooge enough, the spirits aren't creepy enough, the extra dialogue isn't good enough. Unfortunately it just didn't capture the spirit of the story for me. Surprised they got it so wrong with the quality of writers & actors.

Joker (I) (2019)

Essential viewing

[10/10 · 22 October 2019]

Joaquin Phoenix doesn't put a clown shoe shod foot wrong in this exceptional film. The tension builds & builds to reach a crescendo well worth waiting for. Essential viewing not only for the story, the performance, the soundtrack & how it is shot, but for the artistic depiction of a man with a mental health issue who needs the right care & support but doesn't receive it. It should show some people that not everyone sees the world the same way & that those people shouldn't be sidelined for it. Possibly one of the best films ever made. 10 stars at least.

Death Proof (2007)

A passion piece

[8/10 · 2 September 2019]

The first half of the film has a great build up, fine acting & music. It really gets going when Kurt Russell has dialogue. Then the pace slows right down for what you may think is the not so good 2nd half. The music stops, the scratchy film goes, the funny b-movie bad edit glitches aren't as frequent, Kurt Russell disappears & the standard of acting takes a bit of a dive, & then Bam! Kurt Russell's back on screen & I ended up loving the characters I was beginning to get a little annoyed by 10 mins earlier.

Game of Thrones: The Iron Throne (2019) Season 8, Episode 6

This episode was a 7 but I'm giving it a 10...

[10/10 · 2 June 2019]

Giving it 10 stars for the amount of work that has gone into the making of this series & to stick up for it against all the 1 star-ers. Watching "The Last Watch" documentary: the making of series 8 you realise how much work, time & care was put into trying to rap this series up. Hopefully some haters will watch that & accept the direction for finishing GOT & revise their ratings. Series 8 wasn't the best series & was rushed in places but so what. It was still amazing & a couple of leagues above most TV shows.

After Life (2019–2022)

So close to brilliance..

[5/10 · 28 March 2019]

Season 1: I really like Ricky Gervais' work but I find this a bit too sentimental. It relentlessly attempts to pull at the heart strings in almost every scene with lots of cliched inspirational quotes & actually a lack of emotion in the acting despite its subject matter. It misses Ricky Gervais' skill for facial acting, which works so well with David Brent. His facial expression barely changes throughout the entire series. Of course it contains it's fair share of laughs & also has its moments of brilliance but for me it is just let down slightly by it's mawkishness. I know people who loved the series so it clearly works for some, just not quite for me unfortunately. Looking forward to seeing how it evolves though.

A Quiet Place (2018)

Movie equivalent of an enjoyable 3 minute pop song

[8/10 · 8 February 2019]

Enjoyable & jumpy thriller. Gets to the point, no drawn out introduction, no ridiculous fight scenes or over elaborate, climatic ending. If someone gets taken out, they get taken out. Done. It's like the movie equivalent of an enjoyable 3 minute pop song.

The ABC Murders (2018)

Enjoyable Xmas viewing

[8/10 · 29 December 2018]

Enjoyable viewing & always nice to have a mini series on the BBC during Xmas. Classic story but some of the dialogue in the script is unnecessary. Still, it's easy enough to look past some of the corny lines & enjoy. John Malkovich & Eamon Farren certainly stand out as the superior actors here.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)

WOW!!

[10/10 · 19 December 2018]

Best animation movie to date. Simple as that! Unbelievable style, originality & a good story to boot. Blown away by it.

Sally4Ever (2018)

If you like Julia Davis previous work you'll love this

[9/10 · 12 November 2018]

If you like Nighty Night, Camping, Alan Partridge, Bruno & that type of humour then you'll like this. It's ridiculous, childish & very funny. It certainly won't be for everyone & judging from some of the reviews it obviously isn't.

Sick of It (2018–2020)

Witty Mood Piece

[8/10 · 8 October 2018]

When I read that Karl Pilkington would be writing & starring in his own show I had my fingers crossed for him in the same way I did when Steve Coogan announced his Alan Partridge movie. In both cases I was relieved at how they turned out. Sick of It is perfect for Karl to act very naturally & react in a very real way to the plot lines in each episode. Obviously nobody really believed that Karl was the idiot Gervais made him out to be & with Sick of it he has proved himself with this smart, melancholic, witty mood piece.

Time Trial (II) (2017)

Mesmerising & amusing

[9/10 · 11 September 2018]

A very different doco. Quite arty style following David Millars come back to pro cycling. Doesn't go down the usual route of using talking heads with lots of dialogue. It's mostly shot like a fly on the wall (or dashboard/bike) documentary with some voice overs by David Millar himself. I saw this at the cinema & it really worked on the big screen for me, may be better seen this way if you can. You get a real sense of the speed & drama of the peloton etc. The microphones pick up some great conversations between the riders & the language gets quite colourful, giving the film it's comedic moments.