Christopher Robin is the newest Disney attempt at doing the Winnie the Pooh story but this time Ewan McGregor plays a grown up Christopher Robin who has long left the 100 acre wood behind and has a wife Evelyn (Hayley Atwell) and a daughter Madeleine as well as a job at Wombley Luggage which is having to make some hard cuts in order to survive which means staying behind while his family head away on holiday but when Pooh (Jim Cummings) comes to Christopher to find all of his friends the woods come calling again.
Christopher Robin sadly was very forgettable for me and that doesn’t make it a bad movie but one that didn’t really do very much to keep me interested as it was being projected in front of me but first off it is wonderful to hear Jim Cummings as Pooh’s voice as he brings so much heart and warmth and depth to that character that every time he opened his mouth to talk I was really enjoying his dialogue.
And also a lot of the other voices like Brad Garrett as Eeyore and Peter Calpaldi as Rabbit are great likenesses for the original voices from the Winnie the Pooh animated series where Peter Cullen voiced Eeyore for example and Chris O’Dowd who voices Tigger also really captures Jim Cummings’s Tigger voice very well.
As for the human performers Mr McGregor is good as the older Christopher Robin and Ms Atwell who was wonderful as Peggy in the Captain America films pretty much plays the concerned wife and mother role and she does a good job with it but part of me was wishing she was given something more to do and hopefully in the future she will get a great part to really sink her teeth into.
But alas this story just felt very forgettable for me and it plays out very much in that “What if Christopher Robin grew up” kind of way that I didn’t really find all that interesting I mean if your going to do a live action Winnie the Pooh movie it needs to be colourful and bright and fun to watch for a family audience here the adults might get something out of but younger children which should be an ideal audience for this film will just sit there bored by it all when Pooh and his friends aren’t on screen.
And so that was Christopher Robin a forgettable film for me I’m afraid despite some good performances, 1.5 out of 5.
Thursday, September 27, 2018
Film Review - Ladies in Black (2018)
Ladies in Black is based off of the novel Women in Black and is directed by Bruce Beresford and takes place in Sydney 1959 as the department store Goodes has hired some temp hands to deal with the Christmas/New Year sales period one of those is a young girl named Lisa (Angourie Rice) who befriends a European refugee named Magda (Julia Ormond) who also works at the department store, at the same time some of the other girls (Rachael Taylor and Alison McGirr) are going through their own problems and Rudi (Ryan Corr) wants to meet an Australian girlfriend.
Ladies in Black is a nice love letter to Sydney and to Australia of that time period somewhat, 59 was the 10th anniversary of Sir Robert Menzies’s time as Prime Minister and a lot of English and Europeans migrated to Australia to start a new life (one scene made me think of the 1984 film by Ms Sophia Turkiewicz Silver City which starred Steve Bisley) and the production design, costumes and cinematography do a nice job of recreating that period even if at times you can tell that archival footage has been used as it doesn’t quite match up with the photography of the sets.
At one point however and this is a brief aside Let it Snow plays on the soundtrack and all I could think of was Die Hard as to me that song and that movie are inseparable so I’ll move on.
Performance wise Ms Rice who really stole the show in the Nice Guys in 2016 continues to do good work and she really proves herself as a capable young actress and it was very nice to see after seeing her basically do a glorified cameo in Spider-Man: Homecoming last year, Ms Taylor really lights up the screen with her presence here and she reminded me a lot of that 50s starlet and she was good too, Julia Ormond and Noni Hazlehurst were pretty good while Shane Jacobson is his usual affable self and he gets a couple of good laughs.
All in all Ladies in Black is a nice movie with some good visuals and performances even if I wasn’t all that enthralled by it, 2 out of 5.
Ladies in Black is a nice love letter to Sydney and to Australia of that time period somewhat, 59 was the 10th anniversary of Sir Robert Menzies’s time as Prime Minister and a lot of English and Europeans migrated to Australia to start a new life (one scene made me think of the 1984 film by Ms Sophia Turkiewicz Silver City which starred Steve Bisley) and the production design, costumes and cinematography do a nice job of recreating that period even if at times you can tell that archival footage has been used as it doesn’t quite match up with the photography of the sets.
At one point however and this is a brief aside Let it Snow plays on the soundtrack and all I could think of was Die Hard as to me that song and that movie are inseparable so I’ll move on.
Performance wise Ms Rice who really stole the show in the Nice Guys in 2016 continues to do good work and she really proves herself as a capable young actress and it was very nice to see after seeing her basically do a glorified cameo in Spider-Man: Homecoming last year, Ms Taylor really lights up the screen with her presence here and she reminded me a lot of that 50s starlet and she was good too, Julia Ormond and Noni Hazlehurst were pretty good while Shane Jacobson is his usual affable self and he gets a couple of good laughs.
All in all Ladies in Black is a nice movie with some good visuals and performances even if I wasn’t all that enthralled by it, 2 out of 5.
Film Review - A Simple Favor (2018)
A Simple Favor is the new film by Paul Feig who made Spy and Ghostbusters and stars Anna Kendrick as Stephanie a mummy vlogger who makes friends with a woman named Emily (Blake Lively) and her husband (Henry Golding) but when Emily disappears Stephanie starts to suspect something is wrong so she decides to investigate her disappearance while also comforting her abandoned family.
A Simple Favor works best when Anna Kendrick is allowed to be the private detective so to speak and that element of the story is a lot of fun to watch as we rarely get a well made detective story on film nowadays most often they go to television now and it’s a real shame as a good mystery is always worthwhile on screen as you sit with an audience to discover the clues and guess who the killer is and then watch when all is revealed and you can piece it all together and Kendrick who was also very good in the Accountant in 2016 is good here as well.
As for Ms Lively she simply oozes sex appeal here with her sharp suits and statuesque posture in Mr Feig’s hand and on a couple of occasions she reminded me of Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct the beautiful blonde with a mysterious story that keeps our lead guessing for the truth, she also has some really nice suits and a fuck it all attitude that sees Ms Lively really shine as an actress and she has been hit and miss for me but here like in the underrated Age of Adaline in 2015 she was quite good here.
And lastly Mr Golding hot off the success of Crazy Rich Asians is good here as well as the concerned husband who worries about his missing wife and caring for his son Nicky though I will say he does not have as much screen time as Ms Lively and Ms Kendrick do.
Where the film does fall over somewhat is that at times the central mystery gets a little too silly for its own good and while seeing it all come together is very satisfying it does during the course of the storytelling become a little too silly in a way that made me think “Okay how does this make any sense” but again it dances that fine line well enough in the end that I don’t really mind all that much.
And so that was a Simple Favor which is a fun detective story with great performances at the centre of it that make it worth watching, 3 and a half out of 5.
A Simple Favor works best when Anna Kendrick is allowed to be the private detective so to speak and that element of the story is a lot of fun to watch as we rarely get a well made detective story on film nowadays most often they go to television now and it’s a real shame as a good mystery is always worthwhile on screen as you sit with an audience to discover the clues and guess who the killer is and then watch when all is revealed and you can piece it all together and Kendrick who was also very good in the Accountant in 2016 is good here as well.
As for Ms Lively she simply oozes sex appeal here with her sharp suits and statuesque posture in Mr Feig’s hand and on a couple of occasions she reminded me of Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct the beautiful blonde with a mysterious story that keeps our lead guessing for the truth, she also has some really nice suits and a fuck it all attitude that sees Ms Lively really shine as an actress and she has been hit and miss for me but here like in the underrated Age of Adaline in 2015 she was quite good here.
And lastly Mr Golding hot off the success of Crazy Rich Asians is good here as well as the concerned husband who worries about his missing wife and caring for his son Nicky though I will say he does not have as much screen time as Ms Lively and Ms Kendrick do.
Where the film does fall over somewhat is that at times the central mystery gets a little too silly for its own good and while seeing it all come together is very satisfying it does during the course of the storytelling become a little too silly in a way that made me think “Okay how does this make any sense” but again it dances that fine line well enough in the end that I don’t really mind all that much.
And so that was a Simple Favor which is a fun detective story with great performances at the centre of it that make it worth watching, 3 and a half out of 5.
Thursday, September 13, 2018
Film Review - The Predator (2018)
The Predator is the newest entry in the Predator franchise and this time Shane Black who played Hawkins in the original movie from 1987 writes and directs this new entry where the Predator once again lands on Earth and murders a group of special forces soldiers but one of them a captain (Boyd Holbrook) is interrogated to find out why but a local scientist (Olivia Munn) may know what it is and it is indeed the Predator.
I was keen to see this new Predator movie due to Mr Black being in the directors chair, this is a man who starred in the original Predator film and saw John McTiernan make it close hand, he wrote the original Lethal Weapon from that same year and just recently directed the Nice Guys with Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling.
And just recently I got to revisit the original Predator in its new 4K release and it still works perfectly so this new movie was in for the Hunt.
And it deserved to be killed off in that Hunt as this movie was very, very, very disappointing for me but before I delve into those reasons I want to start off by talking about what I did like and firstly I did think the film had some fun bloody violence that well earns its MA15 rating and I did enjoy finally seeing some blood be spilt during the Predator kills plus I did think Mr Holbrook and Ms Munn did a good job in their roles.
And lastly Henry Jackman’s score really nicely conveys a similar style and feel to Alan Silvestri’s score for the original movie.
But like I said this movie was a big disappointment for me and its time to dig into why as there are 2 key reasons:
- Firstly Black’s script which he co wrote with Fred Dekker is a tonal mess, trying to juggle the seriousness of the Predator hunt with the laughs he tries to get out of the group of soldiers and it really doesn’t work as the humour the guys go for is very cringe worthy and at times you can see that their going for that big cinema audience laugh along and it just falls completely flat.
And because of that I didn’t really care all that much if the Predator came along and killed every single one of them as after a while their banter really got on my nerves and I didn’t really find them very funny at all.
- Secondly this same script overcomplicates what should have been a simple story with multiple storylines that don’t really mesh together, there’s a story about a young boy played by Jacob Tremblay from Room and Wonder and then there’s the side plot with the other soldiers and then there’s the story about the Predators themselves and I just sat there thinking “Just give me a simple story with a Predator and its prey” and instead it felt like the mistakes of the Prometheus series that tried to tie into the Alien franchise were being repeated somewhat here and like Alien and Aliens simpler is better story wise.
And so that was the Predator the kind of movie disappointment that really stings as I was really keen to see it and the promise of Shane Black directing one of these films and it fails in the very areas John McTiernan got right in the original, its time for this hunter to take his quarry and retire as like Alien it has well and truly had its day, 1 out of 5.
I was keen to see this new Predator movie due to Mr Black being in the directors chair, this is a man who starred in the original Predator film and saw John McTiernan make it close hand, he wrote the original Lethal Weapon from that same year and just recently directed the Nice Guys with Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling.
And just recently I got to revisit the original Predator in its new 4K release and it still works perfectly so this new movie was in for the Hunt.
And it deserved to be killed off in that Hunt as this movie was very, very, very disappointing for me but before I delve into those reasons I want to start off by talking about what I did like and firstly I did think the film had some fun bloody violence that well earns its MA15 rating and I did enjoy finally seeing some blood be spilt during the Predator kills plus I did think Mr Holbrook and Ms Munn did a good job in their roles.
And lastly Henry Jackman’s score really nicely conveys a similar style and feel to Alan Silvestri’s score for the original movie.
But like I said this movie was a big disappointment for me and its time to dig into why as there are 2 key reasons:
- Firstly Black’s script which he co wrote with Fred Dekker is a tonal mess, trying to juggle the seriousness of the Predator hunt with the laughs he tries to get out of the group of soldiers and it really doesn’t work as the humour the guys go for is very cringe worthy and at times you can see that their going for that big cinema audience laugh along and it just falls completely flat.
And because of that I didn’t really care all that much if the Predator came along and killed every single one of them as after a while their banter really got on my nerves and I didn’t really find them very funny at all.
- Secondly this same script overcomplicates what should have been a simple story with multiple storylines that don’t really mesh together, there’s a story about a young boy played by Jacob Tremblay from Room and Wonder and then there’s the side plot with the other soldiers and then there’s the story about the Predators themselves and I just sat there thinking “Just give me a simple story with a Predator and its prey” and instead it felt like the mistakes of the Prometheus series that tried to tie into the Alien franchise were being repeated somewhat here and like Alien and Aliens simpler is better story wise.
And so that was the Predator the kind of movie disappointment that really stings as I was really keen to see it and the promise of Shane Black directing one of these films and it fails in the very areas John McTiernan got right in the original, its time for this hunter to take his quarry and retire as like Alien it has well and truly had its day, 1 out of 5.
Saturday, September 1, 2018
Film Review - Crazy Rich Asians (2018)
Crazy Rich Asians is based off of the novel and stars Henry Golding as Nick Young the son of a wealthy real estate owner in Singapore who decides to take his girlfriend Rachel (Constance Wu) home for his friends wedding but that also involves meeting the family and his mother (Michelle Yeoh) which won’t be easy but Nick is sure he’s found the one and is determined to win the family over to her while also acting as Best Man at his friends wedding.
Crazy Rich Asians was okay but very much a traditional rom com, first off Singapore and the surrounding islands look great the city is very bright and colourful at night and the islands during the daytime look very calm and relaxing and it will make you want to go there plus it is such a pleasure to see Michelle Yeoh again in a film as not only does she pull of the contempt look well but has the Martial Arts skills to back it up and Ms Yeoh was indeed a major Martial Arts star in Asia in the past and well I’ve liked her since Tomorrow Never Dies as a kid so there’s that.
Also really good is Ms Akwafina who is far funnier here than she was in Oceans 8 where it felt like she had very little to do apart from some card tricks here she pretty much steals the show and gets the best laughs while Mr Golding and Ms Wu have some nice chemistry together as the young lovers trying to navigate their relationship against the traditions of the East where much like the Big Sick last year the parents grow up in a traditional environment while their children are more exposed to the culture and ideals of the West in their travels and the 2 at times clash with each other.
And so that was Crazy Rich Asians and it’s a fun rom com that I enjoyed watching, 3 out of 5.
Crazy Rich Asians was okay but very much a traditional rom com, first off Singapore and the surrounding islands look great the city is very bright and colourful at night and the islands during the daytime look very calm and relaxing and it will make you want to go there plus it is such a pleasure to see Michelle Yeoh again in a film as not only does she pull of the contempt look well but has the Martial Arts skills to back it up and Ms Yeoh was indeed a major Martial Arts star in Asia in the past and well I’ve liked her since Tomorrow Never Dies as a kid so there’s that.
Also really good is Ms Akwafina who is far funnier here than she was in Oceans 8 where it felt like she had very little to do apart from some card tricks here she pretty much steals the show and gets the best laughs while Mr Golding and Ms Wu have some nice chemistry together as the young lovers trying to navigate their relationship against the traditions of the East where much like the Big Sick last year the parents grow up in a traditional environment while their children are more exposed to the culture and ideals of the West in their travels and the 2 at times clash with each other.
And so that was Crazy Rich Asians and it’s a fun rom com that I enjoyed watching, 3 out of 5.
Film Review - BlackKklansman (2018)
BlackKklansman is based off a true story and is the newest joint by Spike Lee and takes place in 1972 where a black undercover detective (John David Washington son of Denzel) the first black man to be recruited to the Colorado Springs Police Force decides to investigate the local chapter of the KKK (Klu Klux Klan) and recurits one of his fellow detectives a white man played by Adam Driver to act in his place and it gets very hairy.
BlackKklansman walks a very tight high wire act between being serious and comedic and Spike manages for the most part to walk very well as part of me thought before seeing this movie “This story sounds utterly bizarre” and yet it really happened and it was told very well, John Washington is very much his father’s son as he sounds so much like him and has a lot of his fathers natural charm and charisma, Adam Driver once again shows what a great actor he is as he knocks it out of the park and walks a very fine line of having to be someone else and not give his real identity away while Corey Hawkins does a great speech scene that reminded me of Denzel in Malcolm X.
But in the end and I won’t say too much but you will know it when it happens I found that the very delicate tight rope that had been managed so well came undone and the reason I feel this way is because it feels like its come out of a movie of this story that is a lot more serious in its tone and the way it inserts itself editorially is as a hard cut and I couldn’t help but think that a dissolve would’ve been much better that way you could still enjoy the high wire act and get the impact of that ending whereas here it feels like it comes out of nowhere and for me personally I found myself marking the film down a little bit because of it.
And so that was BlackKklansman a film that Spike Lee pulls off very well for the most part save for the ending and because of that I have very mixed feelings on the film overall, 2 and a half out of 5.
BlackKklansman walks a very tight high wire act between being serious and comedic and Spike manages for the most part to walk very well as part of me thought before seeing this movie “This story sounds utterly bizarre” and yet it really happened and it was told very well, John Washington is very much his father’s son as he sounds so much like him and has a lot of his fathers natural charm and charisma, Adam Driver once again shows what a great actor he is as he knocks it out of the park and walks a very fine line of having to be someone else and not give his real identity away while Corey Hawkins does a great speech scene that reminded me of Denzel in Malcolm X.
But in the end and I won’t say too much but you will know it when it happens I found that the very delicate tight rope that had been managed so well came undone and the reason I feel this way is because it feels like its come out of a movie of this story that is a lot more serious in its tone and the way it inserts itself editorially is as a hard cut and I couldn’t help but think that a dissolve would’ve been much better that way you could still enjoy the high wire act and get the impact of that ending whereas here it feels like it comes out of nowhere and for me personally I found myself marking the film down a little bit because of it.
And so that was BlackKklansman a film that Spike Lee pulls off very well for the most part save for the ending and because of that I have very mixed feelings on the film overall, 2 and a half out of 5.
Film Review - The Meg (2018)
The Meg stars Jason Statham as Jonas a former deep sea rescue diver who lives with the guilt of having to let 2 of his friends die on a rescue mission that went wrong but when a deep sea research vessel is trapped 11,000 feet below the surface Jonas is brought back into action to rescue them but what he also finds is Megalodon a giant Shark that has now found its way to surface so the race is on to kill it before it kills hundreds of innocent people.
The Meg was okay, not a bad movie by any stretch but not that great of a one either Mr Statham is pretty good and nicely builds on his work in Spy and the Fate of the Furious, Rainn Wilson and Ruby Rose were a lot of fun as well and the film has some pretty neat shark effects that for once didn’t have me going “Stop showing me the Damn Shark.”
But what this movie lacks is any real bite and by that I mean lots of blood in the ocean floor there’s a little bit of it but not enough for my liking and if your going to make a Shark movie you have to push the boundaries a little bit and not be afraid to let its sink its teeth in and show that for Sharks the Blood is indeed the Life, playing it safe like this really doesn’t cut it anymore.
And so that was the Meg which was okay fun but lacked real bite, 2 out of 5.
The Meg was okay, not a bad movie by any stretch but not that great of a one either Mr Statham is pretty good and nicely builds on his work in Spy and the Fate of the Furious, Rainn Wilson and Ruby Rose were a lot of fun as well and the film has some pretty neat shark effects that for once didn’t have me going “Stop showing me the Damn Shark.”
But what this movie lacks is any real bite and by that I mean lots of blood in the ocean floor there’s a little bit of it but not enough for my liking and if your going to make a Shark movie you have to push the boundaries a little bit and not be afraid to let its sink its teeth in and show that for Sharks the Blood is indeed the Life, playing it safe like this really doesn’t cut it anymore.
And so that was the Meg which was okay fun but lacked real bite, 2 out of 5.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
