Film Review - Lee (2024)

Lee is based off of the life of Lee Miller (Kate Winslet) a photographer in France when World War II breaks out and she volunteers to photograph the fighting on the front and the aftermath of the War it had on Europe.

Lee is a pretty solid little film, it doesn’t try to be anything more than it isn’t and I was okay with it for the most part, the film tells its story pretty well though at times it cuts back to Lee as an older woman (including Winslet in old age makeup and Josh O’Connor as a young journalist interviewing her about her time during the war.) and when those cutaways came in they bothered me because I felt like they took me out of the WW2 scenes in the film, it would’ve been better if it had been a voiceover narration so that you could stay in the WW2 moments.

As for the performances they are pretty solid, Winslet is good in the title role even though the old age version of the character didn’t work as well for me, O’Connor is good as well as is Andy Samberg and Alexander Skarsgard and while it is nice to see Marion Cotillard again on screen her screen time is sadly too small, hopefully she takes a bigger role in the future.

And so that was Lee and it’s a good little film that is not the best I’ve seen but far from the worst either, its solid and does its job well, 3 out of 5.

Film Review - Gladiator II (2024)

Gladiator II is the highly anticipated sequel to 2000’s Gladiator which helped bring Ridley Scott back to revelance after a period of doldrums in the 1990’s, brought Russell Crowe to international stardom and an Academy Award for Best Actor and won Best Picture at the Academy Awards as well, this time Paul Mescal plays a farmer who’s land is conquered by a Roman General (Pedro Pascal) and he is taken to Rom as a slave for the Gladiator Games where his fight and tenacity catch the attention of a slave trader (Denzel Washington) who sees in him a path towards a much bigger prize.

Gladiator II was a film that I did not have a lot of high hopes for mainly because Ridley Scott’s output over the last 10-15 years has left a lot to be desired as many of those films were either Stodgy (The Counselor), stupid (Prometheus, House of Gucci) or just laughably bad (Exodus: Gods and Kings) and his previous film prior to this one was Napoleon which was shockingly bad with its focus on a man who conquered most of the known world and transformed France being as a petulant manchild rater than a fascist emperor.

But surprisingly Gladiator II is easily Ridley’s best film for me since the Martian in 2015 (2021’s The Last Duel was okay but discomforting to watch at times) and this definitely a film that is worth watching on a big cinema screen as the Gladiator games in this movie are fantastic be it fights with a Rhino, a flooded Roman Colosseum with boats and sharks, fights with Baboons that look like they came off of the Hunger Games set and plenty of hand to hand combat fights that Ridley Scott directs the crap out of and puts many of his contemporaries to shame with his work here.

As for the performances, Paul Mescal is fine but at times he struggles to fill the big hole left behind by Russell Crowe’s Maximus from the first film, Connie Nielsen is solid here but isn’t given a huge amount to do, Pedro Pascal is watchable but like Nielsen doesn’t get a huge amount to do while Joseph Quinn and Fred Hechinger are fun as the dual emperors of Rome who enjoy all the power and wealth and debauchery at their fingertips.

But this movie belongs to one man and one man alone and that is Mr Denzel Washington who reaffirmed in my mind that he is quite simply the man as he devours every scene he’s in with relish and skill that makes chewing the scenery look like an artform and in his hands it is and every moment he’s on screen you have a big smile on your face as he plots and schemes his way to power while turning on that unmistakable Denzel charm and badassery that makes you can’t help but love him.

As for the films script well at times it’s a bit of mess not unlike Beetlejuice 2 was back in September, there’s at least 2 or 3 separate stories going on here that at times each of them struggles for screen time and one is pretty quickly dealt with while another heads to a somewhat anti climatic finish which is a shame but I wasn’t as bothered with it here like I was in Napoleon last year.

And so that was Gladiator II and it is a fun spectacle with a performance by Denzel that deserves to net him an Oscar, never has one man carried a film on his back so much and make it look easy while also chewing the scenery like it’s an all you can eat buffet, 3 out of 5.

Film Review - Red One (2024)

Red One stars Dwayne Johnson as Callum Drift the head of Santa’s (JK Simmons) secret security unit known as ELF, one night however Santa is kidnapped by an evil witch (Kiernan Shipka) and he along with Zoe (Lucy Liu) track down a hacker (Chris Evans) who might be able to help save Santa and Christmas.

Red One is definitely a lump of coal of coal in the Christmas stocking and it will also make you want to pull an Alan Rickman from Robin Hood Prince of Thieves and say “CALL OFF CHRISTMAS” because this movie is so deathly dull to sit through, it is extraordinary that Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans two actors with charm, likeability and charisma to spare are so boring to watch here.

Johnson looks and sounds like a man who is going through the motions like the failure of Black Adam in 2022 just took all of that winning charm out of him and he’s just been sore about it ever since while Evans once again is trying to say to everyone “SEE I’M NOT CAPTAIN AMERICA ANYMORE, DUMB ASS” as once again he plays a slimy smartass and it really doesn’t work here, it did work in the first Knives Out film in 2019 but that film had Rian Johnson in the directors chair and he knows how to direct actors whereas Jake Kasdan who directed this movie just tells everyone to stand still, hit their marks, say their lines and he’ll put all the winter wonderland scenery in during post.

Speaking of the visual look of this movie, it is so horrible due to that trademark murky digital camera grey that we see more and more and let me remind you all this movie HAD A HIGHER BUDGET THAN DUNE PART TWO and not once did it show on the screen and between this and Joker Folie a Deux having the same budget as Dune Part Two I am getting sick to death of this recklessness in budgetary spending.

A movie like Dune Part Two having a big budget I understand because that film was the follow on to a well liked film that won multiple Academy Awards, made money at the box office despite being available day and date on streaming/piracy and was very well liked by critics and audiences for the most part.

James Cameron getting the budgetary equivalent of the United States Federal Reserve to make his Avatar sequels also makes sense because Cameron has 3 of the top 4 biggest movies of all time worldwide and 2 of those are from a group of films that so many love to say “has no cultural impact” and that budget will be made back in spades.

But what should be a fun lighthearted Christmas family comedy having a 250 million dollar budget is gross recklessness and irresponsibility of the highest order and to quote Kevin Rudd “This Sort of Reckless Spending Must Stop.”

As for the storytelling here well it’s the usual Christmas cheer, broken families, naughty person learning to be nice again and reconciling with his long lost son, fairly standard stuff but it all just bored me after a while because it’s all been done so much better elsewhere.

And so that was Red One and Bah Humbug from me on this one because this is a movie that does not in any way justify its huge budget and it suffers because of it, 1 out of 5.

Film Review - Venom: The Last Dance (2024)

Venom the Last Dance is directed by Kelly Marcel who co-wrote the first 2 films as well as this one and Tom Hardy returns once again as Venom/Eddie Brock who are now on the run due to the events of the last film Let There be Carnage when an alien overlord known as Knull (Andy Serkis) seeks a codex inside Eddie/Venom’s body and sends his monstrous soldiers to Earth to retrieve it putting Eddie and Venom’s lives and bond in danger.

Venom the Last Dance is not the best movie you will see but like the other 2 films it is a fun time nonetheless and Tom Hardy is once again on top form as Eddie/Venom and like in the last film every time their on screen talking to each other I find myself smiling and laughing a whole lot as their banter is so much fun to watch and very funny.

Outside of Hardy however the film does have some script problems and those mainly fall on the other characters not being all that memorable, Rhys Ifans stars as a quasi hippie dad looking for Area 51 and Aliens and his scenes are okay but they tended to drag on screen after a while, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Juno Temple are government officers wanting the Venom symbiote to go with the other they’ve collected and those scenes are okay but again I just found myself going “Can we go back to Hardy now please.”

What also helps this movie is the third act which is a lot of fun to watch with big action across the board that actually looks like it was shot and edited properly, I don’t want to say too much more about it as there are some fun surprises in store but it definitely put a smile on my face and there is some surprisingly good emotional moments as well.

And when all is said and done while I feel superhero movies have had their day as being the dominant genre in cinemas I will miss Hardy’s Venom, it was a fun character to watch and he always made me laugh in this trilogy.

And so that was Venom the Last Dance and honestly I had a good time here, its fun, funny with good action and some surprisingly good emotional moments, 3 out of 5.

Film Review - Smile 2 (2024)

Smile 2 is the sequel to the surprise 2022 film Smile and this time Naomi Scott stars as Skye Riley a pop star looking to mount a comeback tour after surviving a car accident which killed her boyfriend (Ray Nicholson) but after visiting a friend one night she begins to see people smiling back at her in a sinister way and those smiles aren’t exactly ones from grinning fans either.

Smile 2 was a movie that I was looking forward to as I really enjoyed the first film and this sequel does not disappoint at all, Parker Finn who wrote and directed the film gets to strut his stuff here having not only gone through the experience of making the first film but also now knowing he’s making a film for theatres instead of streaming (which is where it was meant to go before getting a theatrical release) and there a lot of exciting moments that definitely put a smile on my face.

Also Naomi Scott is excellent here as the pop star with troubles in her past which begin to come back to the surface due to having the Smile syndrome passed onto her, I’ve liked this lady in everything I’ve seen her in since 2017’s Power Rangers except when she was Princess Jasmine in the live action remake of Aladdin in 2019 and while part of me still doesn’t like the fact she was Princess Jasmine and played a boring version of the character she is very very good here.

The other cast members are good as well, Ray Nicholson definitely has his father’s Batman/Shining Smile and it shows in one scene, Rosemarie DeWitt is good as well as Skye’s mother/manager while Peter Jacobson is good as well as Morris a mysterious man ala Jacobs Ladder who might be able to help Skye get rid of the smiles that haunt her.

And so that was Smile 2 and it is a great time at the movies like the first one was and a welcome balm to my movie going after the debacle that was Joker 2, 3 and a half out of 5.

Film Review - The Substance (2024)

The Substance is a new film by Coralie Fargeat and stars Demi Moore as Elisabeth Sparkle the host of a morning fitness TV show but who is fired by her boss (Dennis Quaid) as the network wants someone new and younger as the host instead, feeling down she orders a mysterious drug known as the Substance and she creates a new younger version of herself known as Sue (Margaret Qualley) but as with these drugs there are rules attached and those rules will soon be broken.

The Substance is a film with a lot of hype behind it and while I think it is very good I don’t think it lived to all of that hype, firstly I will give Fargeat her dues here she does a very good job directing the film and while this runs for 140 minutes I didn’t really feel the runtime all that much save for the ending, she keeps a tight grip on the reins and gets good performances out of all her actors as well as creates some very nice Verhoeven-esque Body Horror that in one instance reminded me of Total Recall.

As for the performances, the 3 leads here are excellent, Moore delivers some of her best work in a long time as Elisabeth who was once a bright star but is now fading due to the river of time and one suspects there is a lot of truth in that from Moore’s performance given her own stardom over the years, Qualley has become a good young actress since I first saw her in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and she is very good here as the young Sue while Dennis Quaid steals the show as the head of the TV network.

He combines that winning smile with this very slimy personality and he completely understands the role he is playing in this movie as that boss who always wants the next bright young thing and then will happily throw them away once they’ve reached their use by date, there is one in particular with a plate of shrimp that really helps to sell his character well.

Speaking of that shrimp scene this movie has some excellent sound design highlighting the disturbing nature of the Substance and the effect it has on those who use it and while the end of the film runs a little long and at times hammer’s the point regarding ageism and women I wasn’t hugely bothered by it all.

And so that was the Substance and while it isn’t one of my favourite films of the year it is a very good one indeed that will please horror fans, 3 and a half out of 5.

Film Review - Joker Folie a Deux (2024)

Joker Folie a Deux is the sequel to the 2019 Joker film which won Joaquin Phoenix an Academy Award for his portrayal of Arthur Fleck aka The Joker and he along with Director Todd Phillips return for this sequel which takes place 2 years after the events of the first film and Arthur has been in Arkham Asylum awaiting trial for his crimes from the end of the first film, during a music class one day he meets Lee (Lady Gaga) another inmate and the two fall in love.

Joker Folie a Deux is going to join some bad company, that being Highlander 2 and Wonder Woman 1984 in terms of being a direct sequel to a popular first film and the same creative team returns for a sequel and completely cocks it up in almost every way, with Highlander 2 it was leaning into Science Fiction with not only the Shield around the world but also changing the immortals origins to being from the now infamous Planet Zeist and with Wonder Woman 1984 it was coming up with a story that made no sense, leaned into bad archetypes and created a central hook in the wishing stone that failed to have any proper framework or rules around it unlike the Genie of the Lamp or the Seven Magic Dragon Balls.

In the case of Joker Folie a Deux it is trying to do 2 distinctly separate movies and failing miserably at both, it wants to be a dreary courtroom drama as well as a stylish romantic musical and neither is given the focus and clarity of storytelling they deserve, the courtroom and prison moments are dull to sit through and the musical moments just had me going “What the Fuck” in my cinema seat and I even saw 2 people walk out of my session during the film (and there was only 6 of us there.)

And what makes this split focus feel worse is that it turns Arthur into a bystander IN HIS OWN MOVIE, Phoenix is a great actor and rarely has he let you down but here he does so as all he does is sit around in a prison, sit around in a courtroom and then give a coutroom speech that feels anti climatic and again PHOENIX WON AN OSCAR PLAYING THIS ROLE, good grief.

As for Lady Gaga I love her, I think she is a wonderful talent and seems to have this big kind heart and soul inside her but she is wasted here, all she does for the most part is sit around in prison clothes and later clown makeup and do a few cabaret acts in the musical scenes and what makes THIS feel worse is that Harley Quinn/Dr Harlene Quinzel is a great character born out of Bruce Timm and his team when they ran the DC animation division and the storyline Mad Love which was later adapted into the Batman Animated Series is a fantastic story.

But once again like the 2016 Suicide Squad film this relationship which is at its core an abusive one is sanewashed and it is fucking irritating as that character goes to Arkham specifically because she is attracted to the glamour of Gotham’s super criminals even though she is warned to be wary of them as they will mess with her head which happens due to the Joker’s influence on her but there is very little of that in this movie in any meaningful fashion but then again Warner Brothers once again finds a way to fuck things up in regards to DC on film and this is far far far from the first time that’s happened too.

Speaking of Warner Brothers fucking things up in a way that pisses me off, the first film in 2019 was co-made with Village Roadshow Pictures and like Furiosa from earlier this year there is no mention at all of Village Roadshow’s involvement with this sequel even though (again like Furiosa) there are webpages listing them involved and that for me personally is deeply disappointing because the partnership between Warner Brothers and Roadshow here in Australia goes back decades and watching WB part ways with them to sign a new distribution deal here in Australia with Universal at the end of 2020 is one I’ve come to hate more and more and its why I don’t get as surprised that WB has thrown away completed movies like they recently have because if they can throw away a 50 year distribution partnership then anything can be tossed aside in their eyes.

Okay that little tangent aside there is the bones of a good movie here and it was one where Gaga did get to play Dr. Quinzel culminating with Arthur in the witness stand answering for himself and his crimes from the first film and really interrogating why that first film worked for many and didn’t for others but we didn’t get that here really at all.

And so that is Joker Folie a Deux and like Highlander II and Wonder Woman 1984 is a sign of a complete cock up by a creative team that got it right the first time around and got it all wrong the second time around, honestly don’t bother seeing this movie, watch some of the DC animation shows instead, if only WB had recruited Bruce Timm from the start of all this in 2013, things could’ve been very different, .5 out of 5.