Reviews

I grew up watching the first two movies. Despite their low budgets I still credit them as really kickstarting my love of horror movies. I was already a Clive Barker fan, but after watching these films I consumed anything I could find on Cenobites / Pinhead; I still have some of the Pinhead comic books. So, it's been disappointing seeing the series go down the pan.

This one seemed like it might be different. And it is!

In terms of recent Hellraiser movies it is a massive step up, and I really hope it leads to a sequel or TV series - there is a lot of potential here. They move the lore of the Cenobites forward a bit, especially the puzzle boxes, and this reboot feels like it is pulling elements from the first two movies.

However, the longer the film went on the more I realised that I was watching this movie more for the new lore and Cenobite world building than enjoying the story. I didn't care for the characters or their motivations, and some of the story decisions seemed a bit silly. If you replace the Cenobites with some other demon type characters, and the puzzle box with some other McGuffin I would see this as an above average horror.

The practical effects are great. There's some solid SFX work here. The acting is decent for this type of film. They do a lot with the budget they were given.

The problem is that I just didn't get anything interesting from the Cenobites, and they were slightly ridiculous. Whilst the first film used leather and S&M gear as a necessity of budget, I prefer it to the rubbery look that many of the Cenobites had here. It didn't look like peeled and scarified skin - it looked like latex rubber - so it broke the immersion.

The story itself is similar enough to the first two movies to be familiar, but it also proves problematic as the new stuff they introduce is just not strong enough - so I was left wondering who this movie is for? Diehard Hellraiser fans will not find much new here and may be annoyed at some of the plot holes / changes to lore; and casual horror fans will just see it as an OK horror in the vein of 13 Ghosts or the House on Haunted Hill remake from 1999.

There's a final scene in the movie that is excellent - I would have much preferred this story to lean into this and overall be more of a study of the Leviathan and the world of the Cenobites - not some weak reboot that rehashed the same ground but with a weaker set of characters I couldn't care about.

The first act is pretty good. Atmospheric, nuanced, interesting, decent acting - especially from Skarsgard. I did have to really suspend my disbelief a lot to allow the film to move forward though. Double booked AirBnB, no hotel rooms available, the main charcater had done no research on the area before arriving. Really?

The second act started well and was enhanced because of the events of the first. It works because it sets the audience up in a position where we have more knowledge than the newly introduced characters. It added tension and I was interested in what direction they would take the story.

I liked the way the first two acts played with the personalities / backgrounds of the male leads. Hinting and leaning into social stereotypes but leaving a few clues to the real intentions. It works quite well. I may be crediting the writers too much here, but I think I get the underlying message of this film, but it just gets lost by the end.

The longer the film goes on (and it does feel a bit overlong), the more ridiculous it gets. It feels like it's written by two different people; or they spent so much time on the first half of the movie they had to rush the rest. There are some truly stupid moments that are almost farcical comedy. All the tension drained out of the film, and it just became a series of ridiculous scenes strung together. Events are telegraphed way ahead of time. All the nuance is gone.

It's so disappointing that something so creepy and initially interesting can go so wrong. Ignoring the stupid decisions made by the main charcater in the first act, I would have scored it a 7. The acting is good, the direction is solid, but the story just drags it down so much that by the end I can only give it a 4.

Imagine an interesting story about the evolution of humans and their relationship with technology

Imagine this great story is made in to a 12 part big budget TV series

Imagine they only release episodes 3, 4 and 5

That's what watching this film feels like. It's a slice of something much bigger, intriguing, and better.

There's not enough time in the movie to really dig in to the big questions, and not enough time to get into the detail and backstory / motivations of the characters.

It's a fascinating film but just misses the mark. There's a few average practical and CGI effects that break immersion, and there's a slight feeling of low budget at times. The cast is universally brilliant though and makes watching so much more interesting. I was particularly impressed by the quirky performance of Kristen Stewart.

This isn't a bad film, it's just a bit disappointing as it could have been so much more. I want to see more, and know more about the characters and the world - so despite my rating I would still recommend giving it a go. It may not be classic Cronenberg, but it's worth a watch.

This film delivers exactly what you would expect - schlocky B-movie horror. What it layers on top are the Foo Fighters parodying themselves and the music industry. It's an interesting idea.

It's fun in parts. I laughed on at a couple of jokes / scenes. And the gore was actually much better than I expected. Especially the use of practical effects. Dave Grohl hams it up like crazy. I got the feeling this was his brainchild and the band was being dragged along for the ride (perhaps mirroring parts of the movie!). The rest of the band were very mixed in their acting chops.

The problems with this film are twofold. One is that the novelty of the Foo Fighters in a horror movie flat quickly, and the other is the run time. Shorten the run time and tighten the editing would make the endless cringey acting and one note story far easier to endure.

My final criticism would be that after decades of producing some of the most interesting, original and awesome music videos, this movie feels like it could and should have been so much more.

The story has some intrigue and I was compelled to watch through to the end. It's TV drama sci-fi but if this movie had the budget of something like Gravity it'd be a whole different thing and more successful for it.

For a project created on a shoestring budget that wouldn't even cover a day of catering on a big budget movie, everyone involved should be commended.

It builds a decent atmosphere, and after adjusting to the accents I liked the characters. It does a decent job hinting at the history between characters without resorting to ridiculous exposition, as we see in a lot of Hollywood movies. It does feel a bit long even though it's only 90minutes, but the ending paid off for me.

But the best bit... Hearing them refer to 'Swindon Space Control'. As someone familiar with the UK Space Agency which has offices in Swindon this raised a smile and was a nice attention to detail for any Brit.

I rented this one, and 20 mins before the end I got interrupted and had to go do something. It wasn't until a couple of hours later I remembered I hadn't finished it! It was so forgettable I actually forgot I hadn't watched the end.

A good concept, generic story, good actors, boring characters, mixed CGI quality.

Such as a shame as it could have been a great movie. Instead it's below mindless fun. There's so many better movies in this genre.

Wow, this film is bad. Bad story, bad acting, and really bad direction.

How can a director manage to sap so much talent out of good actors. McAvoy is a sensational actor, and has portrayed Prof X so much better in the other movies. Same with Nicholas Hoult. Michael Fassbender. Jessica Chastain. The list goes on. Every cast member is so wooden it makes the film even more painful to watch.

The story, or lack of it, picks and chooses which bits from the previous films to use or ignore, to the point where it entirely skips over that we've already had Jean Grey's story told before. The story is boring and Sophie Turner is not strong enough to carry it.

Even if the story was better the Direction would have sunk it. Many scenes feel like we're watching rehearsals. The cuts, angles, framing and even some of the sets are so amateur.

I didn't think the X-Men films could get any worse - Simon Kinberg proved me very wrong

The first John Wick gave us a simple story, but it was wrapped in gut wrenching action and hinted at a much bigger world 'beneath the table'. It was incredible.

John Wick 2 expanded on the back story just a little, gave us more action, but kept it grounded. We learned more about this world John operates in. It pulled back the curtain just a little and left us wanting more.

It pains me to say but John Wick 3 is filler just to set up John Wick 4.

We got a deeper look in to the world above and below the table, but it felt, well, a bit silly. The fight scenes, whilst incredibly visceral often dragged on a little too long. They were padding to cover the lack of coherent story. By the end I found myself questioning decisions - they didn't make sense. The world of John Wick opened up, and was actually a bit naff. The film suffers from a need to try and one-up it's predecessor - it amps up the action, pulls back the curtain too much and almost moves in to self parody.

I still love John Wick and the world they've built. But this is overall the weakest of the 3 films even though the fight scenes were often incredible.

There's nothing in Glass to convince me that M. Night has had some sort of well developed overarching narrative to tell us since he released Unbreakable in 2000. This feels far more like an attempt to jump on the bandwagon and take advantage of the current trend for 'cinematic universes' from DC and Marvel.

It's a shame, as Glass does have an incredibly interesting idea at its centre, and with better story telling, or maybe another film in between Split and this one it might have been able to pull it off.

The acting across the board is great. McAvoy in particular does a brilliant job; but the story moves at a glacial pace. This would be fine if it was more interesting, but after a promising opening, the middle felt flabby and repetitive and the ending fell flat. Feeling more like an intro for a new series of Heroes rather than a tantalising 'origin' for future films or something for the viewer to ponder on.

With few exceptions I always seem to come away from an M. Night film feeling disappointed or unsatisfied. But I also always have hope that his next film is 'the one' to reignite my interest in him as a film maker. His ideas are compelling and perhaps he needs to collaborate with someone who can give his work a more critical pass before it moves to production.

Overall Glass is not a bad film, it's just not that interesting and misses an opportunity to really explore the subject matter.

I don't really know what to write. The entire plot (if it can be called that) is a mess.

It's hard to believe that this came from the same pen as wrote the Harry Potter series. It tries to pack far too much in to its run time, and it just fails, hard. I'm not really sure what the point of the movie was.

Good characters are underused. Pointless characters get too much screen time. Storylines come and go without explanation. Exposition rules the day filling all the spaces between the fantastic visuals.

If this series was by anyone else but Rowling it would have been axed. A waste of talented cast and a budget that could be better spent on other projects.

I have rarely seen a film that shifts tone so hard.

The first half is a light, fun and interesting romp. The story showed potential and I was definitely enjoying it as much, if not more, than the original. But suddenly we take a hard left turn in to a Disney advert full of virtue signalling.

We get it. Disney has charged itself with being some paragon of virtue dead set on ensuring young females grow up independent and strong; but does it have to be at the expense of showing all males as idiots, needy or inferior.

The combination of Disney advert and ramming the heavy handed message home sucks all the fun out of the movie. An interesting and entertaining premise devolves in to a lazy mess and a huge missed opportunity.

This may be based on a comic, but it feels like a poor-man's John Wick made by a bunch of amatuers who think what makes Wick brilliant is just the violence.

There's an interesting story buried under the hyper-violence and silliness. Mads Mik is great as the retiring hitman. His story is interesting and worth watching, and he is well supported by Vanessa Hudgens. But the rest of the cartoon character cast just detract with their scenery chewing performances.

There's moments of brilliance here and there but not enough to give it any more than a weak 5/10.

The first Creed movie was a nice passing of the torch from Rocky / Stallone to Creed / Jordan. It tapped in to nostalgia and sentimentality, but felt fresh and interesting. It was the launch platform for a new boxing saga.

Creed 2 does far too much navel gazing, and despite being just over 2 hours feels like a much longer film. It packs in so many cliches and smashes together so many moments from the previous Rocky films it feels tired and worn out. We've heard and seen it all before.

The more interesting story would have been the redemption arc of Ivan Drago and his son, Viktor. By the end of the movie I was cheering for them.

It's a shame as the acting is all on point, the direction is solid and the fight choreography is great.

So, SyFy cancel The Expanse and bring us Nightflyers. I assume they were hoping to cash in on the brain that brought us GoT.

What a failure in storytelling. So many stupid decisions made by a forgettable array of uninteresting characters.

The 'plot' plods along from one scene to the next with little purpose or energy leaving a trail of boredom in its wake.

This film is so boring.

I forced myself to keep watching just to see if anything interesting happened in the end. It did not.

Poor acting. Poor story. It was comical at times just how bad it was. I assume we are supposed to get some fantastic insight in to the killers mind, but the whole thing was pointless.

I didn't dislike this film despite my 4/10 rating. I just couldn't find a reason to give it anything higher.

There's a a few ideas that are interesting here, but they are not explored to any extent. I assume because they wanted to keep this as a small, low budget piece.

The idea of people living in the mountains to get above the pollution is good. The idea of people travelling between camps using helium / hot air balloons is cool. The idea of trying to find a way to adapt to the pollution is interesting enough. The idea of people leaving earth to try and make a home in the stars works to an extent.

Unfortunately, all the interesting ideas are skimmed over or ignored in favour of a slow paced, meandering story that goes nowhere and says very little.

I think this is a pleasant enough film if you suspend your disbelief, and try and immerse yourself in the ideas instead of what little story there is. If you go in looking for plot holes, scientific accuracy, or a load of action you will be disappointed.

I liked the performances of the leads. Sam's character is clearly very intelligent and capable, but her occasional lapses of focus hint at her isolation having taken a toll on her state of mind (which might play in to some of the decisions she makes). Micah's character is a bit superficial, and they could have played on the motives for his journey more, but Mackie did a decent job with the material he was given.

A huge missed opportunity, but worth a look if you like the ideas it hints at.

The majority of this documentary is filler.

They talk at length about the treasure hunters background, the tension of how much it all costs. They talk about the boat, the captain, the news frenzy about the original announcement. There's a contrived dramatic moment where they conveniently somehow lose the sonar 'fish'. There are other weak dramatic moments about 'difficult decisions' and temperature changes and odd sonar results. There's 'experts' saying stuff like 'It could be the Millennium Falcon'.

There's little analysis, and what they do show conveniently supports their narrative and lacks scientific credibility.

I think this documentary was created purely to try and raise funds so they can continue investigating or milking (depending on your point of view) this anomaly.

Solid performances all round, but ultimately this adds nothing to the Halloween series or slasher films in general. There isn't a single reason to watch this over the original. This is a well trod road we are heading down here.

Think of the most obvious way they could tell this story... Congratulations, you are at least as talented as the writers who got paid for this.

Slow, boring and lacking surprises. It's hard to care about characters when they are as so thinly written they may as well be labelled Daughter, Granddaughter, Son-in-law, Boyfriend, Police Chief, Babysitter etc rather than have actual names.

I can't help but think that the writers spent too much time focussing on how they could continue the strong female story thread from the original instead of trying to write interesting character arcs. In the original Laurie was a vulnerable character who became a survivor. The audience had sympathy and empathy for her. We willed her to survive. Jamie Lee Curtis was an incredibly strong female lead. The writers seem to have decided to really drive this strong female message home. All the men are buffoons who are easily dispatched while Laurie and the females in her family take on Michael with comparative ease. At times Laurie just comes across as tougher than Arnie taking on the Predator, and Myers comes across as an impotent lumbering oaf. It feels ham-fisted when it could have been a brilliant 'passing of the torch' to Laurie's grand daughter.

It's a shame this film is so disappointing as the first 10-15 minutes appear to be leading to an interesting set up. But no, the return of Michael and his rampage is so painfully telegraphed and uninspired - I can't even call it fan service. The middle of the film sags horribly under its own weight. Then we devolve in to Home Alone territory for the big finale. We learn barely anything about the world these characters exist in, so it raises the question... Why bother making it?

Let's see...

Gravelly voiced narrator... check Long periods of filler and repetition that tell us nothing... check Retreading well traveled ground we've heard many times before... check A lack of truly new or compelling information... check Amateur editing with electro-synth music... check Lots of filler renders of aliens and spaceships... check

Disappointing. So disappointed.

But hey, at least they got Mickey Rourke for the narrator to lend some high profile credibility to this movie!

On paper this probably seemed like an amazing idea. On film it just drags.

There's a rather big twist, which initially I really liked. But it just outstayed its welcome until it lost its edge and any potency it might have had on the outcome. For a film only 1hr 15mins long it felt longer, and not in a good way.

And unfortunately, as is the norm for many horror / thrillers, the characters do many things that left me thinking 'why would you do that?' which breaks any sort of suspension of disbelief.

For a low budget effort this is fairly well acted and directed, which made it watchable, although its totally forgettable.

Part way through this movie I just stopped caring about the fate of any of the characters.

Then I realised I'd never cared about any of them; they're generic, boring and have no personality.

Unlike The Rock's other big disaster movie, San Andreas, this effort lacks any sort of tension or excitement. It lacks logic. The worst crime a disaster movie can commit is being boring - and this is so dull. Things happen, more things happen, The Rock does action hero stuff (mainly involving Duct Tape). It ends. No surprises here.

Yawn.

Just watch The Towering Inferno for a proper skyscraper disaster movie.

What an incredibly average film.

It takes no risks. It's watered down. It's generic. It's trying to give the impression it's following Deadpool down the R-Rated super hero route, but it didn't have the guts to go the whole way, or even take a step really.

Tom Hardy is an OK Eddie Brock, but I still find him a bit hit and miss as an actor, and that comes through even from scene to scene here. Sometimes he just mumbles his way through with no effort and I genuinely wondered if he was channeling Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man, while other times he actually seemed to be trying, especially with the physical aspects. There's no connection or chemistry between Tom and Michelle Williams. I guess she was just hoping for some Marvel money and didn't realise this was a Sony picture. And the rest of the cast are incredibly average and forgettable. Especially Jenny Slate, who will always be stuck as Mona-Lisa from Parks & Rec.

There's years of comic book lore and stories to draw on for Venom, but they ignore much of it... For example, why does Venom look like Spider-man? We know why from the comics, but in the movie it makes no mention of this, so we're left with questions and a very one dimensional character as a result.

Of all the stories that could have been told about a symbiotic alien, and all the interesting directions they could have taken the story, they decide to go with what boils down to a boring buddy movie.

When I heard they were making a new Predator film and it wasn't going to follow on from Predators (2010) I was disappointed. Whilst Predators wasn't as good as the 1987 original it was still a decent film from which to build on for the future.

Then I heard Shane Black was involved and my disappointment turned to interest. After all, this is a guy who was actually in the amazing original Predator (1987) movie, and who had written Lethal Weapon, and directed Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. Surely a solid and safe pair of hands.

How wrong I was. This may be one of the worst films I have ever seen. It is bad and amateur in every way. I do not know where the budget went. If you adjust the budgets of Predator and Predators for inflation they come out at 33,000,000 and 51,000,000 USD respectively (up to 2018). This stinking piece of garbage cost 88,000,000 USD! Did they spend it all on cocaine and hookers? It certainly didn't go in to CGI, sets, paying for top talent or the script or screen play.

The story comes across as being a mishmash of ideas they threw at the wall to see which stuck - and then decided that they would use ALL the ideas anyway, even the ones that fell on the floor and rolled behind the refrigerator and started to go moldy. Almost anyone who has watched a Predator movie could have written a better, more intelligent and interesting story than this. It makes almost no sense, its stupid, and pushes the Predator backstory in to ridiculous territory. The script is so inane you can almost feel brain cells screaming out in pain and then exploding. It tries to give a subtle nod and wink to the original movie, but is so brutally handled it comes across as parody. And the end scene; we're entering Power Rangers territory here!

And then the 'acting'. Wow. I have no idea how Olivia Munn keeps getting cast in big budget roles. She must have friends in high places. Boyd Holbrook is the quintessential 'made for TV' leading man - forgettable, wooden and untalented. The rest of the cast are all on the same mediocre level. I don't think we can fully blame them though; Thomas Jane has put in some good performances in The Mist and The Expanse so we know he can do better. I guess they just had to go with what Shane Black gave them, take the pay packet and try and forget they were ever involved.

I can only hope that this film flopped hard enough that the Studio Execs put it to rest forever, or at least until they find a better team to resurrect it. Preferably someone who cares about more than a pay check. Shane Black should not be allowed to write or direct any more movies. I had hoped Iron Man 3 was a blip on his career, but this is a whole new level of awful!

Despite the awful acting

Zero budget

Weak story

Uninspired direction

Awful special effects

And did I mention just how terrible the lead 'actress' is?

I somehow made it to the end!

There is nothing to recommend this film and it has few redeeming qualities. But it is watchable (just), and the premise could be interesting if ALL the above faults were fixed. I've not seen a good Lovecraft inspired film for a long time - and this does not change that!

If you love Star Wars, you will be very disappointed.

If you love sci-fi adventure films, you will be pretty disappointed.

If you love good acting, scripts, and characters, guess what? You'll be disappointed.

But if you love mindless movies with no character development, little story, and the most interesting thing being the special effects - then you've come to the right place.

No one asked for or wanted a Han Solo origin story. Part of the charm of 'original' Han is that a) it's Harrison Ford, and b) he's a bit mysterious, he's a rogue, a scoundrel - none of which comes across here

Trying to crowbar in a lifetime of Han's experiences in to a 2hour film just doesn't work. It tries to be a fan service movie by filling it with cute references and throwbacks to the original trilogy. If you can think of any reference to Han's past from the other Star Wars movies, it will be mentioned and probably resolved here.

This would be somewhat acceptable if the rest of the cast was more than a bunch of paper thin tropes. Beckett, Qi-Ra, L3-37, Val - all forgettable. And special mention should go to Emilia Clarke for a Razzies worthy performance. It's seriously as if her entire direction was 'just be yourself'.

Donald Glover does a good Lando. Chewbacca is great as usual, although I suspect if you know Wookie you'll probably find his lines as cringey as L3-37's.

Disney has a huge number of interesting characters from the periphery of Star Wars to dig in to. And the success of Rogue One shows Star Wars fans and moviegoers will respond well to original stories. But instead they produce this travesty.

I can only imagine how bad it must have been before Ron Howard got involved.