In a very surprising move, 20th Century Fox (I know its called 20th Century Studios now but I will always call it 20th Century Fox) dropped a new trailer for its delayed Kingsman prequel simply titled The King’s Man which was due to come out back in February but will now hit cinemas on September 17th at least for now.
Firstly I want to say that I really liked this new trailer as well as the previous trailer put out for the film, they both promised a fun ride which Matthew Vaughn knows how to do and thankfully this prequel film feels much more in line with the tone and feel of the first film rather than the second film The Golden Circle which left a lot of fans disappointed.
And that point is one I want to expand on some more as when I look at those 2 films and the series that inspired it mainly the James Bond films they do have a lot in common with those perhaps more than expected.
The first film The Secret Service feels very much in line with the Sean Connery era of the Bond films with its over the top feel, a dashing hero in Colin Firth, lavish but not overly stylish sets in the vein of Dr. No and Goldfinger and Thunderball while also giving you a group of heroes that really could get into danger at very point and if they weren’t careful could easily be killed.
The second film The Golden Circle meanwhile feels much more like a Roger Moore era Bond film with its over reliance on Gadgets, a more cartoonish feel and messy storytelling now don’t get me wrong save for A View to a Kill and The Man with the Golden Gun I like Sir Roger’s films as Bond but the Golden Circle emulates the worst aspects of his time in the role instead of the best and Mr Vaughn couldn’t pull that off in a way that Lewis Gilbert could with the Spy who Loved Me and Moonraker.
And whenever the Bond films reached that point like You Only Live Twice and Moonraker that series knew it was time to go back down to Earth and go back to the roots of the character and his stories to stop it from getting too silly.
And if the 2 Kingsman movies emulated the Connery and Moore films for a new generation of audiences then any new film in the series I felt had to harken towards the Tim Dalton era of the series as short lived as that was which meant stripping away the excesses of the second film (the magic head healer really needs to go) and going back to the harder edge the first film had as did the Dalton era of Bond.
And from the sounds of it this new Kingsman prequel may very well deliver on that promise if the previews for it are anything to go by and we actually get a chance to see this movie on the big screen but for now I live in hope as I love this franchise and want to see it back on top again.
After all, Manners Maketh Man.
Wednesday, June 24, 2020
Saturday, June 13, 2020
Film Review - Da 5 Bloods (2020)
Da 5 Bloods is both Spike Lee’s newest film and a Netflix film and concerns the story of 4 Black Vietnam Veterans (Delroy Lindo, Clarke Peters, Isiah Whitlock Jr and Norm Lewis) who return to the Nam to recover the remains of their commanding officer (Chadwick Boseman) who was killed during the War but there is a lost treasure of Gold to be found also but some scars of Vietnam never truly heal.
Da 5 Bloods is one of the better Spike Lee films I thought and firstly I have to talk about the great central performance by Mr Lindo who also appeared in Spike’s 1994 film Crooklyn which also starred Alfre Woodard and he is really good in this film as the grizzled old veteran who went home but never really truly recovered from the experience of the war much like many other veterans from that conflict and his chemistry with Mr Peters, Mr Whitlock Jr and Mr Lewis is great and I loved watching all 4 of these men sit around and talk as if the bond had never left.
The film also has some gorgeous cinematography courtesy of Tom Sigel which really shows off both the landscape of Vietnam (watching this film made me think of my co worker Deb who went there some years ago and told some great stories about the region and the history of the war left behind) as well as the use of the shifting aspect ratios which works very well and one nice thing about the film is that it uses film for the flashback scenes while the present day scenes are shot digitally.
But sadly the film began to lose me around the 2 hour mark and it went on a little too long for me as I felt that the story had reached a rather nice and natural end but instead we got what felt like a side adventure with the Flying Hellfish from the Simpsons and while watching this movie that episode did come to mind a fair few times and after a while I just wanted the film to end and everyone to go home after their journey.
And so that was Da 5 Bloods and for the most part I really like the film despite my issues with its running time, 3 and a half out of 5.
Da 5 Bloods is one of the better Spike Lee films I thought and firstly I have to talk about the great central performance by Mr Lindo who also appeared in Spike’s 1994 film Crooklyn which also starred Alfre Woodard and he is really good in this film as the grizzled old veteran who went home but never really truly recovered from the experience of the war much like many other veterans from that conflict and his chemistry with Mr Peters, Mr Whitlock Jr and Mr Lewis is great and I loved watching all 4 of these men sit around and talk as if the bond had never left.
The film also has some gorgeous cinematography courtesy of Tom Sigel which really shows off both the landscape of Vietnam (watching this film made me think of my co worker Deb who went there some years ago and told some great stories about the region and the history of the war left behind) as well as the use of the shifting aspect ratios which works very well and one nice thing about the film is that it uses film for the flashback scenes while the present day scenes are shot digitally.
But sadly the film began to lose me around the 2 hour mark and it went on a little too long for me as I felt that the story had reached a rather nice and natural end but instead we got what felt like a side adventure with the Flying Hellfish from the Simpsons and while watching this movie that episode did come to mind a fair few times and after a while I just wanted the film to end and everyone to go home after their journey.
And so that was Da 5 Bloods and for the most part I really like the film despite my issues with its running time, 3 and a half out of 5.
Friday, June 12, 2020
Film Review - Artemis Fowl (2020)
Artemis Fowl is directed by Sir Kenneth Branagh and is based off of the novel which tells the tale of young Artemis Fowl (Ferdia Shaw) who is the son of Artemis Fowl Sr (Colin Farrell) who is taken prisoner by a mysterious being who demands a sacred Fairy artefact called the Acculus and young Mr Fowl is determined to find it to get his father back alive.
Artemis Fowl is sadly one of Disney’s not so good films and it is rare for them to stumble badly but when they do you know your watching one and given this went from a September 2019 Cinema Release to a release on its streaming service Disney Plus in June of 2020 its probably no surprise that they knew internally that this was a dud.
And it all boils down to the films screenplay which really reeks of a script written by a committee of people who have seen other films like Die Hard, Men in Black and Harry Potter and blended them together with elements of the source material and pasted it together in a script that has no real cohesion to it or any sense of being the product of a clear vision for this project that could excite anyone watching it as while your watching it you feel your watching a waste of great talent on your TV screen.
And Sir Ken Branagh is a good and capable director (I like his Henry V, Dead Again, Peters Friends, Thor and Cinderella movies quite fine) but it just feels like this time he’s trudging his way through this mudtrack of a screenplay that he can’t really seem to find a way to execute in a cohesive manner like he did with those other films I listed above and as for his actors well.
Dame Judi Dench sounds like she’s imitating a deep voice Irish woman who’s smoked one too many cigarettes in her day, Josh Gad comes across as a rip off of Hagrid from the Harry Potter films and his voice sounds like its imitating Robbie Coltrane from those films, Mr Farrell is clearly trying his best with his character while young Mr Shaw just comes across as a clone of Daniel Radcliffe.
As for the villain in this movie well there really isn’t one just some hooded nobody who has so little to do and has no real character or impact on this story you may as well as swap them out for Dr. Claw from Inspector Gadget and frankly the movie would make more sense with him as the villain given how those scenes play out in the film.
And so that was Artemis Fowl and if this movie is any guide and has a lesson for Disney to learn (not that they have many to learn) its that they need their other live action divisions to learn from the success of the MCU where they have a clear and concise vision for what they want their films to be and they stick with it and see it through to the end not second guess themselves in a committee collective where so much is thrown into a script it never comes across as a cohesive film and given the capable talent in this movie its really disappointing, 1 out of 5.
Artemis Fowl is sadly one of Disney’s not so good films and it is rare for them to stumble badly but when they do you know your watching one and given this went from a September 2019 Cinema Release to a release on its streaming service Disney Plus in June of 2020 its probably no surprise that they knew internally that this was a dud.
And it all boils down to the films screenplay which really reeks of a script written by a committee of people who have seen other films like Die Hard, Men in Black and Harry Potter and blended them together with elements of the source material and pasted it together in a script that has no real cohesion to it or any sense of being the product of a clear vision for this project that could excite anyone watching it as while your watching it you feel your watching a waste of great talent on your TV screen.
And Sir Ken Branagh is a good and capable director (I like his Henry V, Dead Again, Peters Friends, Thor and Cinderella movies quite fine) but it just feels like this time he’s trudging his way through this mudtrack of a screenplay that he can’t really seem to find a way to execute in a cohesive manner like he did with those other films I listed above and as for his actors well.
Dame Judi Dench sounds like she’s imitating a deep voice Irish woman who’s smoked one too many cigarettes in her day, Josh Gad comes across as a rip off of Hagrid from the Harry Potter films and his voice sounds like its imitating Robbie Coltrane from those films, Mr Farrell is clearly trying his best with his character while young Mr Shaw just comes across as a clone of Daniel Radcliffe.
As for the villain in this movie well there really isn’t one just some hooded nobody who has so little to do and has no real character or impact on this story you may as well as swap them out for Dr. Claw from Inspector Gadget and frankly the movie would make more sense with him as the villain given how those scenes play out in the film.
And so that was Artemis Fowl and if this movie is any guide and has a lesson for Disney to learn (not that they have many to learn) its that they need their other live action divisions to learn from the success of the MCU where they have a clear and concise vision for what they want their films to be and they stick with it and see it through to the end not second guess themselves in a committee collective where so much is thrown into a script it never comes across as a cohesive film and given the capable talent in this movie its really disappointing, 1 out of 5.
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