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Reviews
Jam (2023)
Very solid horror movie
I thought this is a very well constructed horror movie. Split up in to three chapters, it delicately portrays the stresses of life and somnambulism (sleep walking) something people joke about, but here being taken to a more sinister place.
I am a big fan of using sound to make a horror effect, and this was nailed as the first scene includes a slamming to create this tension.
The best thing though was how director Jason Yu twisted a seemingly innocent disorder in sleep walking to manufacture horror. I will have to include spoilers to explain this fully, as in the first chapter (film is split into 3) this was done in three parts: creepy phrases ("Someone's inside") followed by a slamming door, eating raw meat and uncooked and cracked eggs, and finally putting their dog in the fridge. These all seems all a little far fetched excepting that sleep walking and why people do it will be a relatively unknown for most viewers, so they just about get away with it. Point is, there is this underlying fear of what might happen when the baby they are expecting is delivered.
The second chapter was a little bit of a nothing one, as it mainly centred around preparing the house for anything further.
The final chapter is where it slightly goes astray, as they introduced the idea that the was paranormal force control the husband. They could have made it work by making it a grey area and a complete unknown, so that when he was finally cured, there is still the idea in the back of head. Instead they committed to the idea, and all the wife had to do was threaten to kill the ghosts daughter, and he just left.
That was a bit of shame, but overall using fear of the person you love was a great device, and it held for 95% of the film.
Thor: The Dark World (2013)
Bogstandard
This was remarkably underwhelming.
I did like the story though, even if it did have a very similar structure to the first film: Odin tells of an ancient foe that was once defeated by Asgard, they steal the power, the old foes try and get it back. What I enjoyed was the incorporation of Loki. Tom Hiddlestone is just amazing, but what we get a real glimpse of is his wit and 'younger brother' persona. The chemistry between Thor and Loki is amazing, and their brotherly bickering if delightful.
The choreography is terrible how, and it didn't match up with the music at all. All the action therefore seemed just a bit inconsequential.
Overall, just a standard instalment to continue the series.
Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
Pretty standard
I am a big fan of alternative versions of real life events. Of course this is a Marvel film, but it is set in World War 2, and although it doesn't make a huge difference to the story, it made quite an interesting 'What if' scenario. But that was a tangent.
I think this film is just another in the young stages of the MCU. I am watching this with the benefit of watching the entire film atic series, but the earlier films are just a bit average: poor scripts, it doesn't feel like there is a lot of consequence and the bigger picture hasn't been fully established. Now, again, this is with the benefit of watching the later films, and this is probably the intention, so I will give this the benefit of the doubt.
What I am enjoying is seeing the early signs of interplay between the films: Stark and captain for example.
I dunno, the fights are fun, I loved his little gang of misfits, but overall, just bog standard.
The Incredible Hulk (2008)
Just. Not. Good
Although this has a place in my heart, it is a dreadful film.
Not sure where to begin, so I will start with the one positive which was the semi-rogue agent feel to it. I am a sucker for man-against-the-government vibe, and on the whole, certainly in the first hour, this worked.
And then hulk was introduced, and that's where it went down the drain. He is just so...I dunno, puny almost. It wasn't helped by the fact that it had 2008 standard effects, but he looked like he was from a video game, and it felt like it roared for the sake of roaring.
The acting was average at best. Ed Norton is just too Ed Norton to be the Hulk, Liv Tyler should just stick to Lord of the Rings and Tim Roth just didn't have that edge he had in his Tarantino days that would have worked so well!
The script was the worst about it as well. It didn't know if it wanted to be super dark or light hearted, and it just ended up being a kinda spoof of a Marvel film.
Needs to be watched if you're a Marvel but forgettable on its own.
Vikings: It's Only Magic (2020)
Another solid episode
Ubbe is getting used to this new found land, King Alfred prepares for battle with Ivar, Harald and Tvitserk, and Ingrid bends her blind puppet king to her witchcraft will.
The main thing from this episode, for me at least, is the different use of music. They really hone in on the different cultures using this, and there is a different edge to it. It was a little more tense and conveyed a little bit more effectively the consequences of each scene. Don't get me wrong, the sound has been excellent throughout the show, I just felt they have started to mix it up a little bit, adapting to the needs of each scene and situation.
Rush Hour (1998)
Fun fun fun, just not as good as Beverley Hill Cops
We have to note that there is some touchy racist undertones here which they would have got away with back then, so I will only focus on the filmatic comments.
This is a very cliched movie. The story alone: hero saves priceless cultural items from Hong Kong that was about to be shipped away by the mysterious baddie, Jungtao, the plot is taken to LA where his henchmen takes the Hong Kong consuls daughter for ransom, two cops world apart who at first hate each other come together to save the day, the baddie is British, goodies win. There is other stuff like a minor character in Elizabeth Peña, a failing bomb disposal saves the daughter by, you guessed it, diffusing the bomb strapped to her chest. The two cops fail at first and put their differences aside to save the day, roguely. So we are not in it for the plot.
Let's look at the characters then. The main focus is Jackie Chan's Lee and Chris Tucker's Carter who have been paired together to keep each other off the case. As a buddy cop movie, I just wasn't convinced. Their moments of bonding come via a few slapstick moments of cultural weight. I don't, maybe it was Jackie Chan's lack of English, and Tucker's OTT nature, I just didn't like it. All others did an okay job, but they were all bit part.
The action however was excellent, and this alone is what brought the rating up to a 7.
Good fun for a Thursday night overall.
Barbarian (2022)
Not bad
Barbarian shows Tess Marshall (Georgina Campbell) who travels to a rough part of Detroit for a job interview the next day, only to find that her AirBnb is double booked with Keith (Bill Skarsgard). The two of them stumble upon a hidden alley under the house, with all the secrets of the house that come with it.
Okay, this movie was trash. Plot holes galore, sub par acting, a weird pace, and it didn't know what it wanted to be.
Having said all that, it was a decent horror movie. I thought the movie effectively used the music and setting to portray a sense of dread. The house in question, the characters and even a bit of a backstory.
It's something different and it it grips you to the end, decent horror.
Psycho (1960)
Hitchcock shows why he is venerated in the industry
I am always sceptical with watching black and white genres, forever worried that it hasn't aged well. I did not need to be worried for this one.
Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) is a young receptionist, good at her job but wanting to get out of Phoenix to the love of her life, Sam Loomis (John Gavin). In order to do this, she steals some money from a prospective client of her boss and winds up, in the pouring rain, at Bates Motel, empty, hidden and mysterious. Its dark history rears its head leading to a manhunt.
May the movie gods forgive me, but this is my first Hitchcock film. And now I see what they hype is about. Intrigue, tension and a superb story, the great director brings in themes that are way ahead of his time and uses to make a genuinely scary movie.
With it being in 1960 it lose a bit more of the horror element, but it was at the very least a TENSE thriller.
A master at using light and sound to create said tension, it only really picks up in the second half of the film, with the first 45-50 setting up the second half of the plot. That seems quite long, but it was perfect for someone who hasn't seen it before.
This is because I was expecting the famous scene (if you don't know it, you can probably guess which one) is placed no where near when I thought it would, and it left me intrigued as to the rest.
The simplicity in how Hitchcock directs this film is what won me over. From the setting of the movie, to how he used close ups to build the tension with a backdrop of bone dry silence, rounded off with an iconic soundtrack, leaves this as a horror classic.
V for Vendetta (2005)
Vivacious, violent, verbose
I certainly wasn't expecting that! V for Vendetta was one of those films which I've kinda wanted to see but there was something that always stopped me. I'm glad nothing did this time.
The film begins with a double shot of the films two protagonists (or antagonists?!) share a double shot as they get ready to go out on their respective nights. Evey (Natalie Portman) is a young PA at the national news centre, BTN, and is accosted by some ill-intentioned 'Fingermen' after she is out after curfew. V (Hugo Weaving) saves her life, and therein begins a complicated, romantic and immediate relationship between the two. What ensues in the film is intrigue, emotion and vengeance as the two navigate an oppressive government while learning their backstories along the way.
What impressed me the most is the script. Leaning on a Shakspearean satire style, Lily and Lana Wachowski creates a drama at its most literal meaning. They were effectively able to combine fascist ideals with the frustrations of an oppressed society, with every faction of this represented very well.
The acting was perfect. The supporting cast played their role, but the two leads were in impeccable. Portman, although it showed she was quite early in her career, played the strong-willed-yet-vulnerable little girl superbly, but this film was run by one person: Hugo Weaving. This guy managed to make an emotionless mask convey all the emotions in his position, which has since become an icon in movie folklore. V has the past of hell, but with his voice alone he was able to portray control, deep sadness, menace and suave. The rest of the cast a whose who of British acumen: Rupert Graves, Stephen Rea, Stephen Fry, John Hurt, Tim Piggott-Smith, Roger Allam, Ben Mills and more.
Great film and a better insight into government control and censorship.
Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)
Bonkers, charming and hilarious
This film was bonkers! But very good. Michelle Yeo plays Evelyn Wang, and hard working but disorganised owner of a laundromat with her husband, Waymond Wang (Ke Huy Quan). Their as-good-as estranged daughter, Joy (Stephanie Hsu) is struggling to deal with teenage girl emotions while having a white girlfriend and their parents' disdain of this. So basically a happy family film accept Evelyn is the key to the survival of the entire multiverse.
The best place to start is the acting, for which a have to give 10/10. Kudos to Sarah Finn as she superbly fuses elite Chinese actors with American Hollywood. I'll get to the main cast later, but my god Jamie Lee Curtis was exceptional. Playing a double entendre role, she provides hilarity, menace, authority and ferocity, all one one scene alone! She plays the tax auditor who threatens to close down the beloved laundromat, while playing a key role in the wider multiverse as well.
James Hong looked like he was having a lot of fun as the traditional, hard-nosed Chinese father who is old and disappointed in his daughter. He is allowed by director David Kwan to show a more youthful side to him as well.
But the whole film comes down to the holy trinity: Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan and Stephanie Hsu. The chemistry between them is electric, and they are able to effectively convey the struggles of immigrants coming over to make a living in the US, while trying to maintain being a family. Michelle Yeoh's Evelyn is the driving force behind the family, and shows her full array of talents, from excellent fighting skills to being a hilariously snappy mother, while having the weight the task she is facing. Quan is just so adorable. It is heartbreaking to see how innocent and puppy like he is, also being able to flex his martial arts. The standout for me however was Hsu's Joy, an ironic name considering you see her smile maybe 3 times (twice in an evil grin). Growing up with a failing mother, unaccepting grandfather, a useless father, AND being a gay Chinese girl, AND THEN being the literal centre of the multiverse, she is phenomenal. Raw, emotional, sassy and evil, she also shows that this is a front for the deep sadness she feels after all the circumstances I have just mentioned.
The direction of this film was 10/10 as they jump from filming style to filming style, with clear and obvious influences from the classic martial arts films to Groundhog Day, without it being overbearing. The interplay between each universe is unbelievable, and some of the characters are unparalleled (they manage to make two rocks poignant!).
I think it very slightly got lost in its confusion, but the underlying message of an appreciation of family and those who matter most, while bombarding you with hot dog fingers, dildos and Raccoonatouille makes this whacky, charming, hilarious and wholesome.
Mission: Impossible (1996)
Solid action movie
What I loved about this film was the cinematography, how they used camera angles and sound to really get across the tension and twists. The close up shots were classic nighties, and it made each character have it's own significance. The use of shadowing to fully emphasize the shadiness in the world of espionage.
Tom Cruise was also great as he swaggers his spy stuff, with effortless charm but with but then an intensity and shrewdness that made him seem always two steps ahead.
Great plot, as the twists make sense, even though if it borders on being cliche.
I am also a sucker for ridiculous spy gadgets, I mean exploding bubblegum, come ooooooon. So cheesy yet so fun.
They don't overdo the spy themes and so overall this is just a very good action thriller worthy of it's cult following.
Nobody (2021)
Just terrible
I mean the only reason this made it to a three was because of some decent action (and Christopher Lloyd), but otherwise it was so drab.
The action was clunky but swift, leaving me feel that it was trying to be John Wick but like his younger brother or something.
The script was so random that it didn't remotely get the balance between him trying to save his family and being this badass.
The acting was boring, and each character seemed to be a characture of itself.
The story was all over the place: the guy put his family in serious danger because he got angry one time and beat up five guys, who OF COURSE were cronies (and one relative) of this maniac Russian. They used every action cliche in the book, trying to waylay these with 'something different' that we have seen in one form or another.
I mean I guess it was fun, and it was set up for a second, but don't watch this expecting high quality action.
This Is Us: There (2021)
Love Kevin
Love Kevin in this episode, but I do agree with one reviewer, it was so illogical. Kevin has finally got himself to a good place, fulfilling his life long dream of a feature film, working with De Niro etc, the whole point of the flashbacks to the football camp he went on reflecting this. I cannot say that I can relate to the joys and stress of fatherhood, but did he really have to sacrifice his literal career for a birth that was early.
Now, I'm not saying he shouldn't have gone: it was possible and it is something a father has to be there for. What I am saying is he COMPLETELY burnt his bridges. It just needed to take one conversation with his agent or the director to go 'I'm sorry, I have to be here, figure something out'. He could have been back tomorrow, next week, whatever. Point is, he didn't have to burn those bridges, especially when it isn't just him it is affecting.
Capote (2005)
Good performance from Hoffmann
Capote centres around a real life figure, Truman Capite, a true crime author in the 50s and 60s. One book in particular, In Cold Blood, is the underlying facet of the film, but it looks more at the relationship between Capote and the subject of the book, Perry Smith.
The book was about a killing of a family in Kansas. Two men, going to steal some money, Smith being on of them, unintentionally kill the family when things take a turn. The men are convicted and sentenced to death. Capote develops a warmth towards Smith, fascinated by his mind.
The film is carried by Hoffmann. His voice alone is unrecognisable, but he his able to bring the wit and journalistic mind of a man, who by all accounts, was a well revered figure at the time. His relationship with Smith is endearing, but he also nails the conflict of being a journalist at the same time as being a friend.
Other than that, it was fine.
Misery (1990)
A look into the mind of a fanatical psychopath
Amazing film. Misery follows Paul Sheldon (James Caan) a successful author, most well know for his 'Misery' series of books, Misery being the titular main character. He is driving on the icy roads of Silver Creek, his regular literary retreat, when the conditions overwhelm him and he crashes. His knight in shining armour is Annie Wilkes (Kathy Bates), a nurse, who nurses him back to health.
The story is very simple: woman cares for her hero, man is reported missing, woman does everything in her power to make sure he stays missing. Local cop tries to find missing man. That's the structure. What makes this film so great is one person: Kathy Bates.
Annie Wilkes gives one of the great ordinary-person-with-mental-illness-villain, and I've got to be honest in the top 3 in this category. Her outbursts and twisted grip on the situation is a real insight into someone who is obsessed and the lengths they will go to to hold onto their prized possession.
She is helped by the structure of the film. All 105 mins is a series of interactions between Sheldon and Wilkes, each one showing a different side to her psychopathy. And this includes everything from outbursts about killing her 'Misery', to bashing Sheldon's ankles in (see it to believe it).
There is also palpable tension of Sheldon's escape, despite being a cripple. Every word he says is in danger of being twisted and therefore potential to be met with an outburst.
Kathy Bathes won an Oscar and rightly so. One of the great performances.
Network (1976)
Excellent depiction of power hunger
Network follows a television network that exploits the steep decline into madness of one of its long standing presenters.
This is a film for a Tuesday night. It is the good(ish), the bad and the ugly of TV. The Bad: Network delves deep into the lengths corporations will go to simply boost their ratings. This is epitomised Robert Duvall's Frank Hackett and Faye Dunaway's Diana Christensen who will incite political terrorism just increase their 'shares' for that particular segment.
The Good(ish): this is represented by William Holden's Max Schumacher, who simply wants to look after his best friend who is suffering from depression and madness. His affair with the young, ambitious Christensen reveals the pressures of the industry.
The Ugly: Peter Finch's Howard Beale and Ned Beatty's Arthur Jensen. Beale descends into craziness, but because he sees it as a spiritual awakening and Jensen sees it as an opportunity to spew ideology, Beale is kept on the air, which rapidly accelerated his decline.
The acting and casting is impeccable. Each of the main actors could have one an Oscar (3 of them did), including Ned Beatty who had one scene of note, but the speech in this was worthy alone.
The dark humour complements political and ideological messages being pummelled at us, and it results in a sobering account of the evils of power.
Rick and Morty (2013)
Superb
I adore this show! Touches on current issues in a bonkers, hilarious, enjoyable way.
This follows the adventures of Rick, super scientist, and his grandson Morty (both voiced by Justin Rolland) through space.
Dan Harmon and co. Goes to real extreme at times, but mostly it makes sense. There is so much science language and expertly created names for characters and places, that at first viewing it's quite overwhelming, but you clever lost in the interplay between the main characters.
Each episode is it's own story, yet common storylines recur throughout. It allows the peripheral characters to be integrated sparingly but not waste fully.
Pure joy is Rick & Morty.
Scarface (1983)
A classic for the ages
There is very questionable scenes that would not be allowed now, but it is the perfect balance of relationship, violence, drama and soundtrack. Loved it.
Platoon (1986)
True epic
This is one of the most scarring portrayal of a war I have seen in a while. The cast was perfect, with a good share of it being young, an intention of Stone, who are able to portray the fear and confusion of such an unpredictable conflict.
The effects felt epic in style with a low budget, which it was, but the sensory overload portrays and image which I would imagine to be reality, although I did think it was a tad overdone.
There is no real story, but the subplot of the war within the war is very effective.
Narcos: México (2018)
season 3 the best season
I love historical dramas, and this is a great one. It is hard to live up to the colombian instalment of narcos because that was a resounding success, but it was able to maintain the various machinations that made pablo escobar so good. The lighting was dark and dingy, or blindingly bright, to highlight the good coming out of evil or vice versa. The music was perfect as well.
Zombieland: Double Tap (2019)
no story, random script, good fun though
The film didnt go anywhere really, and there were just random appearances (I mean Madison was just as useless an appearance as she was a character), but the chemistry from the main characters was nice.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021)
An bog standard introduction, albeit one that makes me excited for the future
I thought plot was slow and the acting of the main character a tiny bit dry, but it is such a stunning, visceral experience that intrigued me to the end.
Brave (2012)
One of Pixar's best
I thought the effects were lacking, but one of the freshest story that doesn't dwell on complicated plots, but simply I warming story of family. Also one of the most incredible casts.
Spider-Man (2002)
classic film thats dated
The plot is great, but its let down by a slapstick script which doesnt help some talented young actors. Willem dafoe is excellent. I did watch this in 2021 (not for the first time!) however, so its understandable.
Dune: Part One (2021)
Stunning film
Visually incredible, just obvious that it was the first part, so the story didn't really go anywhere. I did feel like the script was clunky, and just too dark and mysterious.