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.
Friday, May 8, 2020
Film Review - The Way Back (2020)
The Way Back reunites the Accountant director Gavin O’Connor with his star from that film and in this movie Ben plays Nick Cunningham an alcoholic who is separated from his wife and is asked by his old high school to take over as head coach of their Basketball team which is struggling big time but battles on the court are easier to fight than the battles inside a mans soul.
I’m a big Ben Affleck fan both as an actor but more so as a director (Argo, The Town and Live by Night are very handsomely mounted) and I really loved his and Mr O’Connor’s the Accountant from 2016 so I was keen to see them back together again and also this was the last movie I wanted to watch before the cinemas were ordered to close due to the current circumstances but now I’ve gotten to watch it.
And I have to say I liked this movie quite a bit and front and centre in this movie is Mr Affleck’s central performance and he really makes the most of every scene he’s in, watching him here feels like he is venting on film all of the public falls, struggles and frustrations that have happened to him in the past few years regarding his drinking, the breaking of his marriage and the fallout of his time as Batman in the DC Film Universe, there is very little vanity in this work nor is there the sense of watching a big time actor suffering for their art and their Oscar, this feels like a real and honest performance and it is never boring to watch.
I will also say however that the film works better as a character drama than as a Sports film, don’t get me wrong the sports moments and the basketball games are all perfectly fine but they don’t really feel like they blend naturally into the story they feel like something that’s there to give the lead something to latch onto in his life and the way those scenes are put together a clever enough screenwriter could have undone them for something or anything else and the film would have worked as well I feel.
And so that was the Way Back and its quite good with a great central performance at the centre of it and after watching this movie I wanted to see Ben and Gavin team up once again for their long rumoured Accountant sequel as I would love to see that maybe in the vein of Die Hard with a Vengeance perhaps, hey a man can dream, 3 out of 5.
I’m a big Ben Affleck fan both as an actor but more so as a director (Argo, The Town and Live by Night are very handsomely mounted) and I really loved his and Mr O’Connor’s the Accountant from 2016 so I was keen to see them back together again and also this was the last movie I wanted to watch before the cinemas were ordered to close due to the current circumstances but now I’ve gotten to watch it.
And I have to say I liked this movie quite a bit and front and centre in this movie is Mr Affleck’s central performance and he really makes the most of every scene he’s in, watching him here feels like he is venting on film all of the public falls, struggles and frustrations that have happened to him in the past few years regarding his drinking, the breaking of his marriage and the fallout of his time as Batman in the DC Film Universe, there is very little vanity in this work nor is there the sense of watching a big time actor suffering for their art and their Oscar, this feels like a real and honest performance and it is never boring to watch.
I will also say however that the film works better as a character drama than as a Sports film, don’t get me wrong the sports moments and the basketball games are all perfectly fine but they don’t really feel like they blend naturally into the story they feel like something that’s there to give the lead something to latch onto in his life and the way those scenes are put together a clever enough screenwriter could have undone them for something or anything else and the film would have worked as well I feel.
And so that was the Way Back and its quite good with a great central performance at the centre of it and after watching this movie I wanted to see Ben and Gavin team up once again for their long rumoured Accountant sequel as I would love to see that maybe in the vein of Die Hard with a Vengeance perhaps, hey a man can dream, 3 out of 5.
Saturday, March 21, 2020
Film Review - The Current War (2020)
The Current War stars Benedict Cumberbatch as Thomas Edison, the man who helped invent the light bulb and is now in a race against George Westinghouse (Michael Shannon) to now take that technology and apply it to general electricity generation, a race that could turn very bitter.
The Current War is a movie that got caught up in the Weinstein mess of 2017 and has now finally made its way to cinemas at the height of a global pandemic that has got everything going shut and everyone behind closed doors and the movie itself isn’t awful by any means but its also nothing special either.
Don’t get me wrong it’s always good to see Mr Cumberbatch and Mr Shannon go at it and they are very good in the film Cumberbatch in particular is always a pleasure to watch in a movie though his scenes with Tom Holland felt a bit strange given they are Spider-Man and Dr Strange in the Marvel movies respectively, Katherine Waterston is also pretty good here as Westinghouse’s wife and Nicholas Hoult is good as well as Nikola Telsa.
But for a movie that should be compelling to watch with 2 great talents anchoring it, the movie never feels like it gets to breathe and let it play out, so much goes by so quickly with lots of quick cuts and cutting to various years that it all feels like it goes by in a rush when you would prefer the film to take its time and let its audience get invested in the story and the production design and the performances which are pretty good but again everything goes by so quickly it feels like a film that was edited to bits before release and given the turmoil this movie went through I wouldn’t be surprised.
And that was the Current War and its fine perfectly fine but the film feels too fast and too heavily edited to let its story breathe, 2 out of 5.
The Current War is a movie that got caught up in the Weinstein mess of 2017 and has now finally made its way to cinemas at the height of a global pandemic that has got everything going shut and everyone behind closed doors and the movie itself isn’t awful by any means but its also nothing special either.
Don’t get me wrong it’s always good to see Mr Cumberbatch and Mr Shannon go at it and they are very good in the film Cumberbatch in particular is always a pleasure to watch in a movie though his scenes with Tom Holland felt a bit strange given they are Spider-Man and Dr Strange in the Marvel movies respectively, Katherine Waterston is also pretty good here as Westinghouse’s wife and Nicholas Hoult is good as well as Nikola Telsa.
But for a movie that should be compelling to watch with 2 great talents anchoring it, the movie never feels like it gets to breathe and let it play out, so much goes by so quickly with lots of quick cuts and cutting to various years that it all feels like it goes by in a rush when you would prefer the film to take its time and let its audience get invested in the story and the production design and the performances which are pretty good but again everything goes by so quickly it feels like a film that was edited to bits before release and given the turmoil this movie went through I wouldn’t be surprised.
And that was the Current War and its fine perfectly fine but the film feels too fast and too heavily edited to let its story breathe, 2 out of 5.
Film Review - The Invisible Man (2020)
The Invisible Man is written and directed by Leigh Whannell who made Upgrade 2 years ago and concerns Cecelia (Elisabeth Moss) who is trapped in an abusive relationship in a house that more resembles a bayside prison with a man named Adrian (Oliver Jackson-Cohen) who later commits suicide leaving her 5 million dollarydoos but when strange events start happening Cecelia starts to suspect that her ex might have found a way to stalk her from beyond the grave.
The Invisible Man is a movie I have very mixed feelings about, on the one hand Mr Whannell has clearly learnt a thing or 2 from his partner in crime Mr James Wan on how to craft a movie as this looks gorgeous on a big cinema screen with its use of the 2.35:1 aspect ratio and the wide open spaces that are used throughout the film and the sense of dread it helps to create in the sense that anywhere isn’t safe and that death is coming around any corner at any moment.
The film also has some nice horror and action moments to it as well as some good performances particularly by Storm Reid from A Wrinkle in Time and Aldis Hodge and Harriet Dyer, all 3 of these people deliver good work as does Michael Dorman as the lawyer overseeing Adrian’s estate.
But the bad is sadly in the scripting area, the horrors of domestic abuse especially those aimed at women I feel are just too much with us in real life to treat in this kind of genre horror fare (it doesn’t help that the number 1 news story in Australia the week this movie opened was about a domestic violence murder) and those scenes just didn’t do much for me save for make me uncomfortable and not in a good way.
It also doesn’t help that we don’t really see the life Cecelia had with Adrian that she frequently talks about where she was controlled to within every inch of her life something that 1991’s Sleeping with the Enemy with Julia Roberts and Patrick Bergin at least showed us before the events of that film in the main played out.
And lastly as much as I think Ms Elisabeth Moss is talented and I do think she is very talented she’s giving a performance that just feels too familiar to me by now, she did it in the Handmaids Tale, she did it in the Kitchen last year and she does it again this year, the lone woman who ends up being abused or with someone abusive who takes to drastic measures to get their freedom back and after a while It starts to get a bit repetitive even though Ms Moss is very good in this movie.
And so that was the Invisible Man and for all its craftsmanship its script lets it down, 2 and a half out of 5.
The Invisible Man is a movie I have very mixed feelings about, on the one hand Mr Whannell has clearly learnt a thing or 2 from his partner in crime Mr James Wan on how to craft a movie as this looks gorgeous on a big cinema screen with its use of the 2.35:1 aspect ratio and the wide open spaces that are used throughout the film and the sense of dread it helps to create in the sense that anywhere isn’t safe and that death is coming around any corner at any moment.
The film also has some nice horror and action moments to it as well as some good performances particularly by Storm Reid from A Wrinkle in Time and Aldis Hodge and Harriet Dyer, all 3 of these people deliver good work as does Michael Dorman as the lawyer overseeing Adrian’s estate.
But the bad is sadly in the scripting area, the horrors of domestic abuse especially those aimed at women I feel are just too much with us in real life to treat in this kind of genre horror fare (it doesn’t help that the number 1 news story in Australia the week this movie opened was about a domestic violence murder) and those scenes just didn’t do much for me save for make me uncomfortable and not in a good way.
It also doesn’t help that we don’t really see the life Cecelia had with Adrian that she frequently talks about where she was controlled to within every inch of her life something that 1991’s Sleeping with the Enemy with Julia Roberts and Patrick Bergin at least showed us before the events of that film in the main played out.
And lastly as much as I think Ms Elisabeth Moss is talented and I do think she is very talented she’s giving a performance that just feels too familiar to me by now, she did it in the Handmaids Tale, she did it in the Kitchen last year and she does it again this year, the lone woman who ends up being abused or with someone abusive who takes to drastic measures to get their freedom back and after a while It starts to get a bit repetitive even though Ms Moss is very good in this movie.
And so that was the Invisible Man and for all its craftsmanship its script lets it down, 2 and a half out of 5.
Film Review - Onward (2020)
Onward is the new Pixar film that takes place in a land where Magic once ruled but has now made way to progress and two brothers (Chris Pratt and Tom Holland) who learn of a spell to bring their dead father back to life for one day but when the spell goes wrong they have to go an quest to fix the spell.
Onward is a nice return to form for Pixar in that this isn’t a sequel but a new original story and it was one that I had a lot of fun with as the world of this movie was a great one to inhabit in for a couple of hours, the way that the ancient world and the modern world nicely blend together and I wanted to see more of it, the history, the road stops, the maps it’s a very cool world to see.
As for the overall storytelling it was pretty good albeit a little predictable in terms of the relationship between the brothers which Mr Pratt and Mr Holland sell very well in their voice work though my favourite role would have to be Ms Octavia Spencer as the Manticore who is having a great time as a former legendary warrior who adjusted to the normal workaday world.
And so that was Onward and it is the most fun I’ve had with a Pixar film for a good while probably not since Inside Out in 2015 and hopefully the excellent looking Soul will deliver the goods as well, 3 and a half out of 5.
Onward is a nice return to form for Pixar in that this isn’t a sequel but a new original story and it was one that I had a lot of fun with as the world of this movie was a great one to inhabit in for a couple of hours, the way that the ancient world and the modern world nicely blend together and I wanted to see more of it, the history, the road stops, the maps it’s a very cool world to see.
As for the overall storytelling it was pretty good albeit a little predictable in terms of the relationship between the brothers which Mr Pratt and Mr Holland sell very well in their voice work though my favourite role would have to be Ms Octavia Spencer as the Manticore who is having a great time as a former legendary warrior who adjusted to the normal workaday world.
And so that was Onward and it is the most fun I’ve had with a Pixar film for a good while probably not since Inside Out in 2015 and hopefully the excellent looking Soul will deliver the goods as well, 3 and a half out of 5.
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