A Wrinkle in Time is based off of the novel and is directed by Ava DuVernay and stars Storm Reid as Meg a young girl mourning the disappearance of her scientist father (Chris Pine) but when three goddesses of the universe (Oprah Winfrey, Mindy Kaling and Reese Witherspoon) show up saying that they can help her find her dad across the universe the journey begins.
I was very much looking forward to this movie based off of the previews as it looked like a good mix of bold ideas based Sci-Fi for a Family Audience a tricky course to chart but if anyone could pull it off it was Ava who won enormous acclaim with her film Selma and her documentary 13th but could she make the leap to big time studio filmmaking.
Well sadly she could not because this movie is a huge mess for these reasons:
- Firstly the film makes little if no sense because so little time is taken to properly explain the scientific theories that are presented in the film in regards to Tesseracting the stars of the galaxy and every time someone mentioned the Tesseract I just kept thinking “Ah the Tesseract is a cube shape with a blue colour with a stone in the centre of it you know from the Avengers” and also I just sat there thinking “What is going on here none of this is making any sense”
- Secondly the dialogue here is atrocious as so often you have characters just talking in platitudes and phrases Ms Kaling’s character is the worst at this and only once does she sound like a normal person would talk as most of the time she just spouts out phases from literature and history, Charles Wallace the little brother of Meg sounds less like a normal little brother and more like a child of the Q Continuum from Star Trek the Next Generation.
And he too just talks in these endless platitudes that just made me think “SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP SHUT UP” I mean his endless inane babble just got so fucking annoying after about the third or fourth line that came out of his damn mouth and at one point I half expected him to blurt out “You’ll float too you’ll float too YOU’LL FLOAT TOO YOU’LL FLOAT TOO”
- And this leads me to my last negative and that is the IT the nothing the dark cloud as if we needed another one of those and it somehow is meant to represent the Darkness that fuels Violence and Hatred in all the universe and it comes across as a relative of the dark cloud in the Green Lantern film that also wanted to destroy everything in sight and this is a good idea in theory but in practicality it doesn’t work because so long as there is light there will always be darkness to counter it.
And all of this I take no pleasure in saying none at all because I wanted very much to like this movie and it does indeed have some good elements in it Ms Reid is very good and so is Chris Pine and the film does indeed have a good message at the centre of this messy story that being a young child who has to learn to believe in herself and have confidence and to accept her faults as being part of who she is and her search for her father across the cosmos is an affecting one but both of those elements just end up being lost amongst the messy storytelling and inane dialogue.
And also I did like the Giant Oprah effect that was fun to watch on a big cinema screen.
And so that was A Wrinkle in Time a film I was highly anticipating and was severely letdown by and I know what some will think that I somehow wanted to sink the boot into this one in a malicious way I did not I wish I could say otherwise but I cannot and it disappoints me deeply to say that, 1 out of 5.
Thursday, March 29, 2018
Film Review - Ready Player One (2018)
Ready Player One is based off of the novel by Ernest Cline who also co wrote the film adaptation and is directed by Steven Spielberg and is set in 2045 where Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan also from X-Men Apocalypse) lives in the Stacks of Columbus Ohio where people escape to the Oasis which was created by James Halliday (Mark Rylance from Dunkirk) who has passed away and left 3 keys that could lead to his vast fortune so the race is on to find the clues and Nolan Sorrento (Ben Mendelsohn) head of the IOI corporation is hot on their trail.
Ready Player One is a bit of a mixed bag as a movie but there are a fair few positives and first off is the visual spectacle within the Oasis the action sequences it generates and the various quests and hunts the avatar characters go on is a real treat and it reminds you as did Tintin in 2011 that Spielberg is the man that made Jaws and Raiders of the Lost Ark 2 huge favourites of mine as the camera runs along and swoops up high and is very fluid as if it was a rubbery substance that could be stretched to any angle or degree in his hands.
The film also has a great musical score by Alan Silvestri and throughout there are numerous nods to his work on Back to the Future and the overall sound design is quite good.
But where this film does fall over is in its screenplay and by that I mean that it feels very hollow sure the stuff in the Oasis is great but there is a lot of great material to be mined here about the nature of the virtual world and how sometimes the real one can be as much if not more thrilling about how corporate greed takes gamers for granted about how lonely people have it in them to make something great for the world and the sometimes dark side that geek culture can have and while watching much like how I felt about Red Sparrow I kept thinking of Paul Verhoeven.
And not just of him but also of the kind of film he would’ve made with this material I mean you only have to look at his work on Robocop, Total Recall and Starship Troopers all of them highlights of the science fiction genre the third of which isn’t as good but still has that same satirical bite and edge to it that the other 2 do and I suppose you could chalk that up to me wanting him to make another big studio film again even though the kind of films he made back then rarely get made now.
Lastly the performances are all over the place, Sheridan does what he can but he just felt like a fill in for Shia LaBeouf who Steven seemed to mentor some time back, Mendelsohn tries with every inch of his will to do something with his character and succeeds somewhat, Olivia Cooke was good as Artemis and Rylance was good even if he was made to look a little bit like the late Gene Wilder from Willy Wonka while Simon Pegg was wasted and TJ Miller did very very little in the film.
And so that was Ready Player One and it’s a mixed bag from me some good stuff but it needed some more substance to its script, 2.5 out of 5.
Ready Player One is a bit of a mixed bag as a movie but there are a fair few positives and first off is the visual spectacle within the Oasis the action sequences it generates and the various quests and hunts the avatar characters go on is a real treat and it reminds you as did Tintin in 2011 that Spielberg is the man that made Jaws and Raiders of the Lost Ark 2 huge favourites of mine as the camera runs along and swoops up high and is very fluid as if it was a rubbery substance that could be stretched to any angle or degree in his hands.
The film also has a great musical score by Alan Silvestri and throughout there are numerous nods to his work on Back to the Future and the overall sound design is quite good.
But where this film does fall over is in its screenplay and by that I mean that it feels very hollow sure the stuff in the Oasis is great but there is a lot of great material to be mined here about the nature of the virtual world and how sometimes the real one can be as much if not more thrilling about how corporate greed takes gamers for granted about how lonely people have it in them to make something great for the world and the sometimes dark side that geek culture can have and while watching much like how I felt about Red Sparrow I kept thinking of Paul Verhoeven.
And not just of him but also of the kind of film he would’ve made with this material I mean you only have to look at his work on Robocop, Total Recall and Starship Troopers all of them highlights of the science fiction genre the third of which isn’t as good but still has that same satirical bite and edge to it that the other 2 do and I suppose you could chalk that up to me wanting him to make another big studio film again even though the kind of films he made back then rarely get made now.
Lastly the performances are all over the place, Sheridan does what he can but he just felt like a fill in for Shia LaBeouf who Steven seemed to mentor some time back, Mendelsohn tries with every inch of his will to do something with his character and succeeds somewhat, Olivia Cooke was good as Artemis and Rylance was good even if he was made to look a little bit like the late Gene Wilder from Willy Wonka while Simon Pegg was wasted and TJ Miller did very very little in the film.
And so that was Ready Player One and it’s a mixed bag from me some good stuff but it needed some more substance to its script, 2.5 out of 5.
Film Review - Love, Simon (2018)
Love, Simon is based off of the novel and stars Nick Robinson as Simon who is a high school student with his friends played by Alexandra Shipp (Storm in X-Men Apocalypse), Katherine Langford and Jorge Lendeborg Jr and he has a normal family with parents played by Jennifer Garner and Josh Duhamel but he begins to realise that he is gay and when one of his other students finds out he has to do his bidding virtually or risk his secret coming out before he is ready to reveal it himself.
Love, Simon very nicely blends the teen film formula with the coming out story very well and while watching it at times I was reminded of the wave of euphoria that came over Australia last year when Same Sex Marriage was finally legalized in that the film has a very positive attitude about someone coming out and the character of Simon lives in a very progressive environment though there is some hardship to be found in the story.
The film also has a great young cast of actors anchoring it, Robinson, Shipp, Langford and Lendeborg Jr all play off each other very very well and I did like seeing Ms Shipp again after watching her in Apocalypse in 2016 and I quite liked Mr Robinson as Simon even though it is weird to hear others say your name.
But getting back to Robinson he carries both the high and lows of his character very well and you become invested in him and you want to see him do well and find his place and set things right when they go wrong and sure this movie could’ve have delved more into the struggles of coming out as a gay man to those around you but it would not have fit with the balance of the tones between that story and the teen film formula.
And so that was Love, Simon a film that is quite good and I hope people will go and check out, 3 out of 5.
Love, Simon very nicely blends the teen film formula with the coming out story very well and while watching it at times I was reminded of the wave of euphoria that came over Australia last year when Same Sex Marriage was finally legalized in that the film has a very positive attitude about someone coming out and the character of Simon lives in a very progressive environment though there is some hardship to be found in the story.
The film also has a great young cast of actors anchoring it, Robinson, Shipp, Langford and Lendeborg Jr all play off each other very very well and I did like seeing Ms Shipp again after watching her in Apocalypse in 2016 and I quite liked Mr Robinson as Simon even though it is weird to hear others say your name.
But getting back to Robinson he carries both the high and lows of his character very well and you become invested in him and you want to see him do well and find his place and set things right when they go wrong and sure this movie could’ve have delved more into the struggles of coming out as a gay man to those around you but it would not have fit with the balance of the tones between that story and the teen film formula.
And so that was Love, Simon a film that is quite good and I hope people will go and check out, 3 out of 5.
Saturday, March 24, 2018
The Last Wish: My Thoughts on the Dragon Ball Super Series Finale
This is a little unusual for me to do as I don’t really review much in the way of television but Dragon Ball is my all time favourite franchise and the most recent series Dragon Ball Super has had its series finale air and after this comes a new movie in December.
The current arc has been the Tournament of Power where numerous Universes competed for a wish on the Super Dragon Balls and this final episode sees Goku, Frieza and Android 17 try to beat Jiren before time runs out or he eliminates them and gets the wish for himself.
Before this finale had come to air I was a little sceptical as to how it would come to an end as there was a lot to do in terms of the storytelling:
- How would Jiren be defeated
- What would happen with Frieza
- Who would be left standing
- Which Universe would be erased
And also who is going to get the wish.
And very happily this finale answers all of that very well, there were times watching this where I was beaming from ear to ear and I had a joyous look on my face at the events I was watching it all felt so satisfying in a way I didn’t think it would be given there had been rumours about how it would all end and happily that did not pan out.
Seeing some of those old faces again and some of the character interactions was just wonderful and there were some very exciting teases for the future especially when coupled with the recently released teaser for the movie due in December.
And so that was my take on the Dragon Ball Super series finale a well made and exciting finale that wrapped up its key storylines well and also gave us some exciting teases for the future, 4 out of 5.
The current arc has been the Tournament of Power where numerous Universes competed for a wish on the Super Dragon Balls and this final episode sees Goku, Frieza and Android 17 try to beat Jiren before time runs out or he eliminates them and gets the wish for himself.
Before this finale had come to air I was a little sceptical as to how it would come to an end as there was a lot to do in terms of the storytelling:
- How would Jiren be defeated
- What would happen with Frieza
- Who would be left standing
- Which Universe would be erased
And also who is going to get the wish.
And very happily this finale answers all of that very well, there were times watching this where I was beaming from ear to ear and I had a joyous look on my face at the events I was watching it all felt so satisfying in a way I didn’t think it would be given there had been rumours about how it would all end and happily that did not pan out.
Seeing some of those old faces again and some of the character interactions was just wonderful and there were some very exciting teases for the future especially when coupled with the recently released teaser for the movie due in December.
And so that was my take on the Dragon Ball Super series finale a well made and exciting finale that wrapped up its key storylines well and also gave us some exciting teases for the future, 4 out of 5.
Thursday, March 22, 2018
Film Review - Pacific Rim Uprising (2018)
Pacific Rim Uprising takes place 10 years after the events of the Pacific Rim film from 2013 and this time Jake Pentecost (John Boyega) takes up the mantle of being the chief Jaeger pilot but when Kaiju begin to re-emerge on Earth Jake has to lead a new team of recruits to go and cancel the Apocalypse once again.
This was a movie I had very skeptical views about mainly because I am a massive fan of the first film it had Guillermo Del Toro being given $200m to give us a film form his immense imagination with giant robots fighting giant monsters and Idris Elba showing what a toweringly charismatic figure he can be when given the chance so this movie had a lot to live up to.
And sadly and this comes as no pleasure at all this movie does not deliver on that promise it feels like another sequel that’s made because the first film makes a bunch of movie either in cinemas or on video and watching it I got really bored with it all.
And that mainly comes down to the storytelling and the first film much like Highlander in 1986 kinda wrapped everything up whereas here the way certain events play out felt very silly to me and didn’t make an awful lot of sense when comparing it to the first movie.
But there are 2 major reasons that dwarf all of those:
- Firstly the absence of Mr Del Toro in the directors chair is very keenly felt as you watch the movie as Guillermo has an extraordinary visual imagination, an attention to every single detail no matter how small and the love, the passion, the humanity and the energy he brought to that movie.
He also understood very clearly and this is apparent when you watch the extras on the double disc Blu-Ray release of the movie is that these robots and monsters even though they would be digital creations they have to have a sense of weight and a physical presence in the movie whereas here it just felt like a bad Transformers knockoff.
- And secondly Mr Elba’s absence is also plainly felt when it comes to the overall performances and everyone tries their best Mr Boyega, Scott Eastwood, Charlie Day, Burn Gorman both of whom reprise their roles from the first film as well as many others and all of them felt very flat and I just kept wanting Idris Elba to show up.
Because in the first film he hovered above the proceedings as the fixed point the last man standing between humanity and the Apocalypse whereas and though I wasn’t a big fan of the Dark Tower film last year it reminded me of how very charismatic he can be in a movie and his absence was felt for me like it was for Mr Del Toro.
And so that was Pacific Rim Uprising an okay sequel but a very very pale shadow of the first film, 1.5 out of 5.
This was a movie I had very skeptical views about mainly because I am a massive fan of the first film it had Guillermo Del Toro being given $200m to give us a film form his immense imagination with giant robots fighting giant monsters and Idris Elba showing what a toweringly charismatic figure he can be when given the chance so this movie had a lot to live up to.
And sadly and this comes as no pleasure at all this movie does not deliver on that promise it feels like another sequel that’s made because the first film makes a bunch of movie either in cinemas or on video and watching it I got really bored with it all.
And that mainly comes down to the storytelling and the first film much like Highlander in 1986 kinda wrapped everything up whereas here the way certain events play out felt very silly to me and didn’t make an awful lot of sense when comparing it to the first movie.
But there are 2 major reasons that dwarf all of those:
- Firstly the absence of Mr Del Toro in the directors chair is very keenly felt as you watch the movie as Guillermo has an extraordinary visual imagination, an attention to every single detail no matter how small and the love, the passion, the humanity and the energy he brought to that movie.
He also understood very clearly and this is apparent when you watch the extras on the double disc Blu-Ray release of the movie is that these robots and monsters even though they would be digital creations they have to have a sense of weight and a physical presence in the movie whereas here it just felt like a bad Transformers knockoff.
- And secondly Mr Elba’s absence is also plainly felt when it comes to the overall performances and everyone tries their best Mr Boyega, Scott Eastwood, Charlie Day, Burn Gorman both of whom reprise their roles from the first film as well as many others and all of them felt very flat and I just kept wanting Idris Elba to show up.
Because in the first film he hovered above the proceedings as the fixed point the last man standing between humanity and the Apocalypse whereas and though I wasn’t a big fan of the Dark Tower film last year it reminded me of how very charismatic he can be in a movie and his absence was felt for me like it was for Mr Del Toro.
And so that was Pacific Rim Uprising an okay sequel but a very very pale shadow of the first film, 1.5 out of 5.
Thursday, March 15, 2018
Film Review - Tomb Raider (2018)
Tomb Raider is based off of the video game this particular movie version which follows the 2 films that Angelina Jolie made in 2001 and 2003 is a reboot much like the 2013 game of the same name was a reboot this time Alicia Vikander plays Lara Croft a young woman directionless after her fathers disappearance but when her company faces liquidation she goes back to his old house and discovers his old notes about an ancient Japanese Empress who if released could potentially spell disaster for the world.
This new Tomb Raider is sadly very very forgettable but that is not in any way due to Alicia Vikander’s performance she gives this role 115% of her time and every time she’s on screen you connect with her and want her to get to that island and find her father and solve the mystery it also helps that she equips herself very well with the action scenes bringing a real grit and determination to everyone of them that reminds me a little bit of Jennifer Lawrence in the Hunger Games series.
Sadly however the rest of the movie is not giving that same commitment and this movie has 2 huge problems going for it:
- Firstly the storytelling here is really really bland and at times I thought I was watching a bad ripoff of the true finale of the Indiana Jones series the Last Crusade with the missing father, the book (“I schould’ve mailed to the Marxsche Brothersche” I said to myself at one point) the traps all of it and well they chose…
Poorly
- And secondly the villains here are so bland and generic they may as well have been bought off a smegging rack at a bargain basement they have no personality, nothing memorable about them and are just there because well its an adventure film and we need to have some bad people run around in it which leads me to Mr Walton Goggins now you may remember him from such films as the Hateful Eight where he was pretty good but here completely flat.
And its not just him, Kristin Scott Thomas one of our greatest actresses is wasted in a nothing role and Nick Frost someone I love basically just does a 2 scene role can we please find better roles for these people Alicia gave this project her all why couldn’t everybody else.
And so that was Tomb Raider and frankly it’s a big disappointment as I really had hoped that THIS would be the one film to break the mould of well shit video game movies but alas its just another one on the pile, 2 out of 5.
This new Tomb Raider is sadly very very forgettable but that is not in any way due to Alicia Vikander’s performance she gives this role 115% of her time and every time she’s on screen you connect with her and want her to get to that island and find her father and solve the mystery it also helps that she equips herself very well with the action scenes bringing a real grit and determination to everyone of them that reminds me a little bit of Jennifer Lawrence in the Hunger Games series.
Sadly however the rest of the movie is not giving that same commitment and this movie has 2 huge problems going for it:
- Firstly the storytelling here is really really bland and at times I thought I was watching a bad ripoff of the true finale of the Indiana Jones series the Last Crusade with the missing father, the book (“I schould’ve mailed to the Marxsche Brothersche” I said to myself at one point) the traps all of it and well they chose…
Poorly
- And secondly the villains here are so bland and generic they may as well have been bought off a smegging rack at a bargain basement they have no personality, nothing memorable about them and are just there because well its an adventure film and we need to have some bad people run around in it which leads me to Mr Walton Goggins now you may remember him from such films as the Hateful Eight where he was pretty good but here completely flat.
And its not just him, Kristin Scott Thomas one of our greatest actresses is wasted in a nothing role and Nick Frost someone I love basically just does a 2 scene role can we please find better roles for these people Alicia gave this project her all why couldn’t everybody else.
And so that was Tomb Raider and frankly it’s a big disappointment as I really had hoped that THIS would be the one film to break the mould of well shit video game movies but alas its just another one on the pile, 2 out of 5.
Monday, March 12, 2018
Film Review - Annihilation (2018)
Annihilation is based off of the novel and is adapted by Mr Alex Garland who made the Dredd reboot in 2012 with Karl Urban and Ex Machina in 2015 with Oscar Isaac he also plays Kane in this movie a soldier who returns home from a mission to his wife a biologist and former soldier Lena (Natalie Portman) but she is drafted by Dr. Ventress (Jennifer Jason Leigh) for her own mission into the Shimmer a strange portal that landed on Earth from Space but accompanying them are Tessa Thompson, Gina Rodriguez and Tina Novotny but what they find inside may shock and disturb them.
For the first two thirds of this movie I was really on board, Garland continues the 70s esque Sci Fi feel that he started with Ex Machina here very well where ideas and the human condition form the basis of the Science Fiction elements instead of laser beams and ray guns and that type of Star Wars feel of Science Fiction that became more popular when that film became a hit.
His direction also feels much more confident with lots of wide open shots and muted colours and long edits again recalling the spirit of early 70s and late 60s Sci Fi films like 2001 or Silent Running and also he has a very game cast of actresses who give it their all but before I go into them I want to talk about Oscar Isaac’s role and he’s okay but doesn’t really get an awful lot to do he feels a little bit like a plot device at times.
But the 5 main actresses are all great both as a unit and individually Portman is delivering some of her best work here and it’s a real shame that she hasn’t gotten more chances like this one as she shows a real grit here and an ability to carry a film with real ease, Thompson continues to go from strength to strength with her work here plus her work in Thor Ragnarok and Creed there ain’t anything this woman can’t do, Ms Leigh is very solid as the team leader and Ms Rodriguez is basically doing the Vasquez role from Aliens and she does it very well and Ms Novotny is also good here.
But oh boy oh boy does this movie go right off the deep down and goes Kerplunk Kerplunk Kerplunk and loses its thribble in the third act and up until this point I was completely on board with the film but after that climax I just feel like I’ve watched a bad knockoff of Alien from the early 80s with the Giger esque designs, the crew getting picked off one by one until one remains and the characters doing the same stupid things that people in Sci Fi films tend to do like looking down a hole or at a strange thing or firing a gun and so on and so forth.
And I do not take any pleasure in saying any of that because I was really enjoying the movie up until then but this is a classic case of a film being sabotaged by its third act and it sadly undid a lot of the positive feelings I had for this movie beforehand but I can’t say that as much thinking about the full film in context of its beginning, middle and ending.
And so that was Annihilation and sadly it is a big disappointment, the first two thirds were so good and I was really on board with it that it made the letdown of its third act feel even worse than it normally might have, if you’re a Sci Fi fan check it out but if not then I cannot recommend it I’m afraid and I take no pleasure in saying that, 1 out of 5.
For the first two thirds of this movie I was really on board, Garland continues the 70s esque Sci Fi feel that he started with Ex Machina here very well where ideas and the human condition form the basis of the Science Fiction elements instead of laser beams and ray guns and that type of Star Wars feel of Science Fiction that became more popular when that film became a hit.
His direction also feels much more confident with lots of wide open shots and muted colours and long edits again recalling the spirit of early 70s and late 60s Sci Fi films like 2001 or Silent Running and also he has a very game cast of actresses who give it their all but before I go into them I want to talk about Oscar Isaac’s role and he’s okay but doesn’t really get an awful lot to do he feels a little bit like a plot device at times.
But the 5 main actresses are all great both as a unit and individually Portman is delivering some of her best work here and it’s a real shame that she hasn’t gotten more chances like this one as she shows a real grit here and an ability to carry a film with real ease, Thompson continues to go from strength to strength with her work here plus her work in Thor Ragnarok and Creed there ain’t anything this woman can’t do, Ms Leigh is very solid as the team leader and Ms Rodriguez is basically doing the Vasquez role from Aliens and she does it very well and Ms Novotny is also good here.
But oh boy oh boy does this movie go right off the deep down and goes Kerplunk Kerplunk Kerplunk and loses its thribble in the third act and up until this point I was completely on board with the film but after that climax I just feel like I’ve watched a bad knockoff of Alien from the early 80s with the Giger esque designs, the crew getting picked off one by one until one remains and the characters doing the same stupid things that people in Sci Fi films tend to do like looking down a hole or at a strange thing or firing a gun and so on and so forth.
And I do not take any pleasure in saying any of that because I was really enjoying the movie up until then but this is a classic case of a film being sabotaged by its third act and it sadly undid a lot of the positive feelings I had for this movie beforehand but I can’t say that as much thinking about the full film in context of its beginning, middle and ending.
And so that was Annihilation and sadly it is a big disappointment, the first two thirds were so good and I was really on board with it that it made the letdown of its third act feel even worse than it normally might have, if you’re a Sci Fi fan check it out but if not then I cannot recommend it I’m afraid and I take no pleasure in saying that, 1 out of 5.
Thursday, March 8, 2018
Film Review - 12 Strong (2018)
12 Strong is based off of a true story and stars Chris Hemsworth, Michael Shannon, Michael Pena and Trevante Rhodes from Moonlight as a US special forces Strike Team who go into Afghanistan after September 11 to try to liberate some of its captured areas but the terrain is so harsh they have to do it via horseback and a cavalry attack is one they will be determined to do.
I quite liked this movie for three key reasons:
- First the ensemble group is quite good here, it sure is nice to see Mr Hemsworth getting a chance to do something a little different besides being Thor and doing comedy work which he is very good at doing I must add and I like to compare him to Mel Gibson in terms of his performance abilities and far less so the personal stuff and that both are very charismatic, very funny and very talented and part of me wishes that he would get some of the same opportunities Mel got with films like Hamlet, Air America and Tequila Sunrise among others where he got to show audiences that there was more to him than just Mad Max or Martin Riggs.
As for Mr Shannon and Mr Pena they are their usual reliable selves but another stand was Trevante Rhodes with this and Moonlight he shows himself to be the complete package as a potential leading man as here he was tough and in Moonlight he showed a very sensitive side to him so hopefully he will get the chance to take the lead in a big film one day as he will do that job very well.
- Secondly the film has some very good action sequences and a little bit like Dunkirk from last year they make good use of the cinema’s sound system and they are very easy to follow, make good use of some neat camera angles and have some real punch to them though there was one point where I thought “I’m not going to get a cavalry charge scene” and then I did and I was very happy though the one in the Lighthorsemen from 1987 is pretty damn hard to top.
- And lastly this was a very interesting war story albeit about a very recent and still very raw period of our history and as someone who remembers what the state of the world was like during that period it felt partially eerie to see some of the archive footage from those days and a recreation of the mindset that came after that day and it felt as I said a little raw still to revisit that and it was for me at least very interesting.
And so that was 12 Strong an interesting and nicely made War film that isn’t the best film you’ll see but one that I enjoyed quite a bit and would recommend seeing, 3 and a half out of 5.
I quite liked this movie for three key reasons:
- First the ensemble group is quite good here, it sure is nice to see Mr Hemsworth getting a chance to do something a little different besides being Thor and doing comedy work which he is very good at doing I must add and I like to compare him to Mel Gibson in terms of his performance abilities and far less so the personal stuff and that both are very charismatic, very funny and very talented and part of me wishes that he would get some of the same opportunities Mel got with films like Hamlet, Air America and Tequila Sunrise among others where he got to show audiences that there was more to him than just Mad Max or Martin Riggs.
As for Mr Shannon and Mr Pena they are their usual reliable selves but another stand was Trevante Rhodes with this and Moonlight he shows himself to be the complete package as a potential leading man as here he was tough and in Moonlight he showed a very sensitive side to him so hopefully he will get the chance to take the lead in a big film one day as he will do that job very well.
- Secondly the film has some very good action sequences and a little bit like Dunkirk from last year they make good use of the cinema’s sound system and they are very easy to follow, make good use of some neat camera angles and have some real punch to them though there was one point where I thought “I’m not going to get a cavalry charge scene” and then I did and I was very happy though the one in the Lighthorsemen from 1987 is pretty damn hard to top.
- And lastly this was a very interesting war story albeit about a very recent and still very raw period of our history and as someone who remembers what the state of the world was like during that period it felt partially eerie to see some of the archive footage from those days and a recreation of the mindset that came after that day and it felt as I said a little raw still to revisit that and it was for me at least very interesting.
And so that was 12 Strong an interesting and nicely made War film that isn’t the best film you’ll see but one that I enjoyed quite a bit and would recommend seeing, 3 and a half out of 5.
Thursday, March 1, 2018
Film Review - Red Sparrow (2018)
Red Sparrow is based off of the novel and is directed by Francis Lawrence who made the Hunger Games sequels in 2013, 14 and 15 respectively and he re teams with Jennifer Lawrence once again who this time plays a Russian ballet dancer who’s leg is injured on stage and is then offered to join the Sparrow program which moulds young recruits into agents of the state and with an American agent (Joel Edgerton) getting wind of a mole in the Russian government the race is on to find him and expose the mole.
I enjoyed Red Sparrow most while I was watching it but when it was over and I walked out of the cinema I began to think of it less and less to the point where I began to think of it as forgettable not bad in any sense of the word but just a in one ear out the other kind of movie.
However first off I want to talk about Francis Lawrence as the director he does a good job here with very dark and complicated material and with this and his Hunger Games work I’ve begun to think of him as someone who is making the kind of material that Paul Verhoeven used to make when he was at his peak in the US in the late 80s and early to mid 90s.
Movies like Robocop, Total Recall, Basic Instinct and Starship Troopers these are films that not only were mainstream action/science fiction/thrillers that people could go and see but they also had something more to them be it satire or a frankness about violence or the sense of something being either reality or a dream and dealing with sex and sexual matters in a very straightforward way that didn’t try to hide it and there are scenes in Red Sparrow that reminded me a lot of Verhoven’s work and this could have been a film he might have made back 25-30 years ago.
And also Jennifer Lawrence (the two aren’t related) does a good job here despite having to nail the Russian accent and deliver a compelling performance and she does well with both Edgerton meanwhile has a tricky role to deliver and he does okay while there are a slew of side performances like Matthias Schoenarts, Charlotte Rampling, Ciaran Hinds (easily as forgettable as he was in Justice League) and Jeremy Irons who is falling into a little bit of a Michael Caine territory recently taking acting jobs to earn some cash.
However this movie has 2 big problems:
- Firstly this movie is just too long its runtime is 140 minutes but it felt like a long 2 and a half hours and again when you go back to thrillers like Basic Instinct or even last year’s Atomic Blonde which this movie tries to emulate at times both of those were only a little bit over the 2 hour mark and this really could have used some tightening to keep its spy story at a good pace so it doesn’t start to waver off course and have the audience go “Hold on hold on, what’s going on here, I’m lost.”
- Secondly this story does get a little too twisty turny for its own good and going back to the length problem the story goes on for so long that you do find yourself getting a little lost about who’s working for who and who wants what and what does this person have to do with this or that and I wish it had been streamlined a little bit much like a heist film where at the end when all the pieces come together you go “Oh that makes sense well done” whereas here the twists and turns got a bit much after a while.
And lastly some of the hotel room scenes in this movie made me a little uncomfortable to sit through now I know these films are planned for years in advance but with everything that’s been revealed in regards to certain people in the industry and their methods it made me think “Why is this in this movie its not very nice to watch” and look I love dark movies I really really do especially the MA15+/R18+ kind I genuinely look forward to those but given everything that’s been revealed in recent months I would like to see those kind of scenes be rethought a little bit.
And so that was my review of Red Sparrow a well made but forgettable spy film, 2 out of 5.
I enjoyed Red Sparrow most while I was watching it but when it was over and I walked out of the cinema I began to think of it less and less to the point where I began to think of it as forgettable not bad in any sense of the word but just a in one ear out the other kind of movie.
However first off I want to talk about Francis Lawrence as the director he does a good job here with very dark and complicated material and with this and his Hunger Games work I’ve begun to think of him as someone who is making the kind of material that Paul Verhoeven used to make when he was at his peak in the US in the late 80s and early to mid 90s.
Movies like Robocop, Total Recall, Basic Instinct and Starship Troopers these are films that not only were mainstream action/science fiction/thrillers that people could go and see but they also had something more to them be it satire or a frankness about violence or the sense of something being either reality or a dream and dealing with sex and sexual matters in a very straightforward way that didn’t try to hide it and there are scenes in Red Sparrow that reminded me a lot of Verhoven’s work and this could have been a film he might have made back 25-30 years ago.
And also Jennifer Lawrence (the two aren’t related) does a good job here despite having to nail the Russian accent and deliver a compelling performance and she does well with both Edgerton meanwhile has a tricky role to deliver and he does okay while there are a slew of side performances like Matthias Schoenarts, Charlotte Rampling, Ciaran Hinds (easily as forgettable as he was in Justice League) and Jeremy Irons who is falling into a little bit of a Michael Caine territory recently taking acting jobs to earn some cash.
However this movie has 2 big problems:
- Firstly this movie is just too long its runtime is 140 minutes but it felt like a long 2 and a half hours and again when you go back to thrillers like Basic Instinct or even last year’s Atomic Blonde which this movie tries to emulate at times both of those were only a little bit over the 2 hour mark and this really could have used some tightening to keep its spy story at a good pace so it doesn’t start to waver off course and have the audience go “Hold on hold on, what’s going on here, I’m lost.”
- Secondly this story does get a little too twisty turny for its own good and going back to the length problem the story goes on for so long that you do find yourself getting a little lost about who’s working for who and who wants what and what does this person have to do with this or that and I wish it had been streamlined a little bit much like a heist film where at the end when all the pieces come together you go “Oh that makes sense well done” whereas here the twists and turns got a bit much after a while.
And lastly some of the hotel room scenes in this movie made me a little uncomfortable to sit through now I know these films are planned for years in advance but with everything that’s been revealed in regards to certain people in the industry and their methods it made me think “Why is this in this movie its not very nice to watch” and look I love dark movies I really really do especially the MA15+/R18+ kind I genuinely look forward to those but given everything that’s been revealed in recent months I would like to see those kind of scenes be rethought a little bit.
And so that was my review of Red Sparrow a well made but forgettable spy film, 2 out of 5.
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