I can barely make out anything Babs Olusanmokun says. That makes episodes where he plays a big role really difficult to follow. I don't know what would resolve this. Maybe the sound engineer could find a way to make his voice project more. Maybe I need a hearing test.
Reviews
27 Reviews
How can you not find jollof rice in London?
22 May 2022
If you're going to make a plot where your characters go to another country and introduce this wild new exciting thing to the locals, maybe don't make that thing be something you can already buy on every street there. Mimi's restaurant has that Uber Eats hookup you know? You don't have to go out on a special trip just to find it.
Five to be neutral
8 January 2022
I'm not a Trekkie so I'm not really bothered about what this show "should" be and I can see the value in a TV show that caters to people who want to have the characters psychoanalysed in response to their trauma using metaphors to mirror what's happening irl...
... But we weren't watching it for that. Changing the show to be something radically different after three seasons is a terrible idea. You won't somehow draw in a new audience who want to see that, they'd have to watch the first three seasons to make any sense of it, which they won't enjoy. If it's what your old audience had wanted to watch, they would have been watching something else to begin with.
It's not as though the emotions are any more realistic and relateable than befits pop-SF. Enough of the unearned, melodramatic, masturbatory speeches.
... But we weren't watching it for that. Changing the show to be something radically different after three seasons is a terrible idea. You won't somehow draw in a new audience who want to see that, they'd have to watch the first three seasons to make any sense of it, which they won't enjoy. If it's what your old audience had wanted to watch, they would have been watching something else to begin with.
It's not as though the emotions are any more realistic and relateable than befits pop-SF. Enough of the unearned, melodramatic, masturbatory speeches.
Hostiles
(2017)
Nearly, not quite.
18 September 2021
Warning: Spoilers
I want to respond to the people debating the PC agenda this film may or may not have; it definitely does feel awkward in how Jonathan Major's character is treated. I have nothing against films being progressive and I understand the narrative need to show that Blocker isn't simply racist but a product of war early on, but the aesthetic is too grizzled and "realistic" for it to make sense. You could have the same device but make it work better, a more subtle indication than this unrealistic and on-the-nose way, somehow. There's just something missing.
Which is also the issue I have with the rest of the film. This is Blocker's journey of discovery as he and his men come to realise that the people they hate are just people like them and that white men are also capable of being vicious and yadda yadda. Yes okay that's perfectly fine for a plot arc but none of the redemptive beats feel earned. They just change their minds over the course of some shots of horseback riding through the countryside. What little does happen feels in no way near enough to erase the hatred instilled by the character's pasts.
You can see the outlines of it there, the idea that anything is justified if it's your job (an oddly Nuremburg-defence-based morality) and not otherwise, but it doesn't come through strongly enough. So something is missing. Maybe it's on the cutting-room floor.
Which is also the issue I have with the rest of the film. This is Blocker's journey of discovery as he and his men come to realise that the people they hate are just people like them and that white men are also capable of being vicious and yadda yadda. Yes okay that's perfectly fine for a plot arc but none of the redemptive beats feel earned. They just change their minds over the course of some shots of horseback riding through the countryside. What little does happen feels in no way near enough to erase the hatred instilled by the character's pasts.
You can see the outlines of it there, the idea that anything is justified if it's your job (an oddly Nuremburg-defence-based morality) and not otherwise, but it doesn't come through strongly enough. So something is missing. Maybe it's on the cutting-room floor.
High-Rise
(2015)
I won't damn it.
3 August 2021
Wheatley doesn't like to sign-post what's going on in his films. He can, if you look at something like Sightseers or Free Fire, both of which are entertaining, but I think with this and A Field In England and maybe some other works of his, they're self-consciously "art", so he won't lead the viewer by the hand through it. It makes them much harder to watch but I think it's a good thing, it keeps your mind engaged, not just a passive viewing experience. It's enriching, like a good book.
Complaints that the metaphor is "lost" seem redundant, who needs another metaphor for class inequality? You can just re-watch Snowpiercer or something if all you care about is a rehashing of the same ideas. There's plenty of trashy fiction that does it. Or re-read the book, if you want the original. At least this tries to do something new with the material.
Maybe there are too many people who watched some Marvel movies, saw that Tom Hiddleston was in this and came here expecting more of the same.
Complaints that the metaphor is "lost" seem redundant, who needs another metaphor for class inequality? You can just re-watch Snowpiercer or something if all you care about is a rehashing of the same ideas. There's plenty of trashy fiction that does it. Or re-read the book, if you want the original. At least this tries to do something new with the material.
Maybe there are too many people who watched some Marvel movies, saw that Tom Hiddleston was in this and came here expecting more of the same.
Kevin Can F**k Himself
(2021–2022)
Kevin can, so can the production team.
22 June 2021
This isn't clever, this is the premise of a short Family Guy skit. Unattractive guy with a hot wife who he mistreats? Wow! So fresh and insightful. Please.
Yes, this concept has (had?) potential to be interesting, if they did something interesting with it, but they don't. Realistic character unhappy living in unrealistic TV Sitcom Setup. That's all there is to it.
Yes, this concept has (had?) potential to be interesting, if they did something interesting with it, but they don't. Realistic character unhappy living in unrealistic TV Sitcom Setup. That's all there is to it.
Solos
(2021)
Suffers from self-imposed restrictions
14 June 2021
Don't get me wrong, it's very good. Excellently written and acted. But monologues are, by their nature, difficult to concentrate on. Besides which it's very hard to make a monologue seem natural, because it's not. A lot of people will write it off for these reasons. Then again, they seem to be the same people writing it off because some of the characters have beliefs they don't share.
Any cynical, non-flashy SF is going to draw comparisons to Black Mirror, it's not really relevant.
Any cynical, non-flashy SF is going to draw comparisons to Black Mirror, it's not really relevant.
Invincible
(2021– )
Fine but puzzling
16 May 2021
I'm just really confused by the budget allotment here. The writing is perfectly good, the voice-cast star-studded but what's going on with the animation?
It's visibly cheap and poorly done. Over-static characters like paper marionettes with poorly-synched lip movements. Every character seems as stiff and lifeless as a background figure in an original Scooby-Doo. You'd think if you're making a cartoon, you'd prioritise the animation with at least some of the budget. It's kind of an important part.
It's visibly cheap and poorly done. Over-static characters like paper marionettes with poorly-synched lip movements. Every character seems as stiff and lifeless as a background figure in an original Scooby-Doo. You'd think if you're making a cartoon, you'd prioritise the animation with at least some of the budget. It's kind of an important part.
Snowpiercer
(2020–2024)
No regrets
28 November 2020
I'd typed up a long review that the page refreshed and lost. I can't be bothered to do it again.
tl;dr I prefer this to the recent Brave New World and Raised By Wolves series. The needs of the TV show format make it incompatible with the "extended class metaphor" of the film, but if you're not trying to analyse it, it's a good watch. If you want to watch more basic class metaphor stuff, try The Purge series.
I'm still irritated by the logic of the train's engine. It has to keep moving to stay warm, outputs less energy if the train goes slower but also if the train goes fast? Why couldn't the engine be kept in one place and used to drive an electricity generator? The track goes back and forth across continents, it doesn't circumnavigate the globe in any way that would make sense in terms of drawing power from the Earth's magnetosphere or motion itself. It's weird handwavium and best not thought about.
Particular commendation of Annalise Basso for her acting, her character is a convincingly contemptible human being.
tl;dr I prefer this to the recent Brave New World and Raised By Wolves series. The needs of the TV show format make it incompatible with the "extended class metaphor" of the film, but if you're not trying to analyse it, it's a good watch. If you want to watch more basic class metaphor stuff, try The Purge series.
I'm still irritated by the logic of the train's engine. It has to keep moving to stay warm, outputs less energy if the train goes slower but also if the train goes fast? Why couldn't the engine be kept in one place and used to drive an electricity generator? The track goes back and forth across continents, it doesn't circumnavigate the globe in any way that would make sense in terms of drawing power from the Earth's magnetosphere or motion itself. It's weird handwavium and best not thought about.
Particular commendation of Annalise Basso for her acting, her character is a convincingly contemptible human being.
Canadian Strain
(2019)
Nice little thing
4 October 2020
Solid and charming film, a good watch. Paints a convincing little world with all the characters in it. Jess Salgueiro is great, a lot of it is very funny - the scenes with Naomi Snieckus stood out in particular. More than just "stood out", she made me laugh enough that I'm going to go out of my way to watch things she's in now.
Slightly puzzled at the casting choices of Colin Mochrie and Maria Vacratsis as Anne Banting's parents; they're both very pale and Jess is not. But if it was just cast on the grounds of acting ability that makes sense. Maybe she was adopted, who cares?
Slightly puzzled at the casting choices of Colin Mochrie and Maria Vacratsis as Anne Banting's parents; they're both very pale and Jess is not. But if it was just cast on the grounds of acting ability that makes sense. Maybe she was adopted, who cares?
Scare Me
(I) (2020)
Almost turned it off...
3 October 2020
... the moment they started talking about being writers. You know what those films are like. All too often. But I didn't, mainly because I fancy Aya Cash, and I'm glad I didn't because it steadily grew more ridiculous and more fun.
Didn't like the "plot" very much but that's okay it's only in the last ten minutes plus seeing them all do like, three lines of cocaine each with no way to get more made me super uncomfortable because they'd just spend the next three hours wanting more cocaine which is not a good feeling.
But the acting was great and the banter with the little stories, how they were carried out and how the characters performed them made it really worthwhile.
Edit: I see a lot of bad reviews, saying like "oh, it's like a student film" yeah that's what happens when you make a movie under covid, you can't have hundreds of people involved. Others saying "baww it's too sjw" shut up; it is (or has, as it's not the central theme) a meta commentary ON sjw stuff, it just happens to not be an incel take on it.
Didn't like the "plot" very much but that's okay it's only in the last ten minutes plus seeing them all do like, three lines of cocaine each with no way to get more made me super uncomfortable because they'd just spend the next three hours wanting more cocaine which is not a good feeling.
But the acting was great and the banter with the little stories, how they were carried out and how the characters performed them made it really worthwhile.
Edit: I see a lot of bad reviews, saying like "oh, it's like a student film" yeah that's what happens when you make a movie under covid, you can't have hundreds of people involved. Others saying "baww it's too sjw" shut up; it is (or has, as it's not the central theme) a meta commentary ON sjw stuff, it just happens to not be an incel take on it.
Raised by Wolves
(2020–2022)
Very original
28 September 2020
Warning: Spoilers
Humanity's last remanants on a space quest to find a new home planet, amid prophecies, intruigue revolving around faith lost and found in an ancient Mediterranean religion, androids obessed with having children their own sort of religion.
I wrote this review for Battlestar Galactica but just copy-pasted it here too.
Shout-out to Cosmo Jarvis. Woop woop.
I wrote this review for Battlestar Galactica but just copy-pasted it here too.
Shout-out to Cosmo Jarvis. Woop woop.
Future '38
(2017)
A rarity
6 February 2019
This film sets out to do its thing and then sticks with it. In terms of a film experience, most of what I didn't like was almost certainly intentional in its mimicking of films from that era. I'm not a fan of those but I can't fault Future '38 for having the integrity to stick with them.
Most of the obvious visual comedy fell flat for me but the film more than makes up for it and is worth watching alone simply for the wonderfully 1940s banter, especially that as delivered by the two leads.
Christmas Presence
(2018)
Yeeeeah
16 December 2018
All horror films are terrible once the plot gets going because everything's so forced for the shock or fore. I thought this was no exception, but at least the bit before that is interesting.
It's an unlikely group of characters as friends but it's nice to see people over 25 being treated like sexual, and sexually attractive, beings. All the cast do a good job, even if the leading men ham it up a little.
Whatever they did with the colour balance is a nice touch, it's both coldly atmospheric and festive simultaneously. The camera angles aren't boldly innovative but they're effective. Same goes for the soundtrack.
Only, after the predictably interesting start, it didn't get less interesting. I was expecting this to be predictable but it kept me guessing. I'm not going to rave about it but I was pleasantly surprised. It's not Tarkovsky but it's enjoyably spooky.
Only, after the predictably interesting start, it didn't get less interesting. I was expecting this to be predictable but it kept me guessing. I'm not going to rave about it but I was pleasantly surprised. It's not Tarkovsky but it's enjoyably spooky.
Under the Silver Lake
(2018)
23, 25
7 December 2018
A lot of the reviews here are saying it doesn't make sense. I disagree, this is an example of art saying something you can't really put into words. Few of the individual scenes grabbed me but the experience of the film as a whole is amazing. A modern paranoiac malaise, self-aware in a way that doesn't grate. It takes quite some time to get into the flow of it (I was unimpressed for the first 35 minutes and the cinematography never gets better than competent) but once you get it you're there.
The most Pynchonesque screenplay I've ever seen, occupying a cinematic reality somewhere between The Crying of Lot 49 and Inherent Vice, without being derivative. I won't say I know what it means but I do know how it feels.
Postscript: There's a lot of female nudity, if you're into that. And a lot of Andrew Garfield nudity if that's more your thing.
The most Pynchonesque screenplay I've ever seen, occupying a cinematic reality somewhere between The Crying of Lot 49 and Inherent Vice, without being derivative. I won't say I know what it means but I do know how it feels.
Postscript: There's a lot of female nudity, if you're into that. And a lot of Andrew Garfield nudity if that's more your thing.
Swiped
(I) (2018)
???
1 December 2018
I don't know why everyone's bouncing on Noah's lap for this film, his acting is totally unremarkable. Kristen Johnston stood out for me. Otherwise this seemed to be something written by people still stuck in the "Revenge of the Nerds" era of social dynamics. It somehow manages to be blithely misogynistic and misandrist simultaneously. I've never heard of the writer-director but she seems to be remarkably out of touch.
Clearly someone did some research into coding as this is a film that relies heavily on tech, sadly they seemed to give up shortly after learning the words "Python, Javascript, HTML and Perl".
Continuity errors, bad stereotypes and unrealistic dialogue galore. Don't waste your time.
Adopting Trouble
(2016)
Quirky & inventive but unpolished
29 November 2018
There's a lot I like about this film; some scenes are very funny, it's inventive and silly with lots of interesting characters. Problem is it feels sort of a mess of different styles and ideas. The character's behaviours and motivations don't quite hang together properly and there's very odd pacing and the plot doesn't feel like anything is really at stake. It just stumbles from each slightly disjointed scene to the next. None of the characters seem properly fleshed out or consistent.
It's definitely worth watching but it undeniably has its problems. I look forward to seeing what the director/production company do next as I think they could do some really fantastic work once they get these teething issues figured out.
I'm also puzzled why so many of the characters are wearing eye make-up.
It's definitely worth watching but it undeniably has its problems. I look forward to seeing what the director/production company do next as I think they could do some really fantastic work once they get these teething issues figured out.
I'm also puzzled why so many of the characters are wearing eye make-up.
Predictable but solid.
28 November 2018
Everything that's going to happen seems very obvious but it's still nice to watch. They could have tried taking some risks with the plot.
Eccleston's involvement not much more than a cameo but Wilkinson is just as accomplished an actor and the younger cast do a damn good job of it. It's very English though if you like that then you'll appreciate this. It's a damn sight better than Seat 25 anyway.
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