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Reviews
Baby Reindeer (2024)
Very dark disturbing and well made, BUT ...
The entire series is very well written, casted , acted and produced , BUT .....
I'm afraid virtually everything that happens to this guy throughout the entire series he pretty much bought on himself.
Any normal sensible person could see what was going to happen from the very beginning and would have run a mile.
Both sick abnormal individuals that he got involved with were clearly red lighted at the very start of his meeting them ..... but he still chose to continue on multiple occasions.
I still sympathise with what ultimately happened to him, but how stupid was he?!?
Silly .... SILLY man 😔 😟
The entire series would have been so much more effective if he was a totally innocent person who did nothing wrong and yet this had all still happened to him.
With 100% sympathy for the victim this would have been an awesome series.
The First Omen (2024)
Good, but could have been so much better
Being a huge fan of the original David Seltzer Omen story 1976, I was really looking forward to a quality prequel after over 45 years.
In my opinion the original is the greatest antichrist film of all time, setting the standard for all others to follow. 10/10
Omen 2 Damien was a great sequel. 8.5/10
The Final Conflict ended the trilogy on another high. 8/10
Even the 2006 remake did a good job. 8/10
This prequel I can only rate 6.5/10, but it could have easily rated 8/10, with a few relatively small changes.
Firstly, the story doesn't justify a 2 hour run time and should be at least 15-30 minutes shorter. The opening half of the film was way too slow and the very final scene was unnecessary.
The idea of senior Catholics fearing a loss of faith and belief in the church, so they need to resort to actually breeding the antichrist to bring people back out of pure fear and paranoia. An antichrist they can control .... DONT THINK SO. They should have stuck to the idea of fanatical extremists in the guise of the church, but who just want the antichrist to bring ultimate death and destruction.
There needed to be at least another 2 or 3 story related gory deaths, where Satan or his disciples are protecting the birth of the antichrist. The main priest trying to stop the birth, survives .... REALLY.
The opening scene with the shock death of the priest played by Charles Dance, was far too predictable, done in slow motion and very tame. What we needed for a punchy opening, was the same, but fast and brutal, very much like the decapitation scene in Hereditary. Now that too was predictable, but happened so quickly and brutally, that I actually jumped and said Jesus Christ, out loud in the cinema, which I never do. We talked about this scene directly after the movie ended as it was so shocking and memorable.
Also the director went for too many obvious jump scare scenes, which don't work for me at all, but may work for others as my friend jumped about 5 times .... Go figure.
The scene where the main character confronts the guy she met earlier in a club, was also way too predictable with him standing in the middle of the street and being hit by a car before he could complete his very important warning to her. The driver would have had plenty of time to see him and stop. You could have had a much more believable death if he had fallen back in front of the car, like the bus at the end of Final Destination, or a mechanical failure like the lorry handbrake slipping in the original Omen.
Also, although I love him to bits, Bill Nighy was badly cast as the main priest .... in ROME. Firstly he's British and you really needed an Italian priest and secondly he's too nice an actor and someone far more sinister and menacing was needed.
Despite all this, the movie is quite an enjoyable watch if your an antichrist film fan like myself.
Fool Me Once (2024)
I binge watched the entire series, it was so good
I always thought Michelle Keegan was beautiful, but never realised what a good actress she was also.
This series had so many twists, I had to keep recapping to make sure I hadn't missed something important. Please only watch this when your brain is fully active, with no distractions.
Final thought, for people who love the original books, perhaps give up on watching TV or movie adaptations, as all book fans (especially Agatha Christie) seem to relish giving screen versions 1 out of 10, claiming they're an insult to the original books, when in actual fact most adaptations for the non book fans are normally pretty entertaining 😉
Saltburn (2023)
This is a fantastic movie, BUT .....
I want to restate THIS IS A GREAT FILM, in all aspects .... story, script, casting, directing, acting, cinematography, soundtrack and shocking ending. It really has it all and as such would have deserved a higher score, but for the unnecessary shock factor scenes that actually just made me feel uncomfortable and took me out of the whole viewing experience.
Even for me, an extremely broad minded viewer who has watched and appreciated some very severe scenes in many films, certain parts in this movie went just slightly too far.
The bathroom scene where Oliver spies on Felix pleasuring himself in the bath was clearly important to show that Oliver's love for Felix was far more than just as a friend or hero worship, BUT the lingering closeup of Oliver licking and sucking the bath water as it drains away was absolutely and totally unnecessary. It gave the viewer no additional insight into the story or characters and was purely added to shock and make the viewer feel awkward and uncomfortable.
An even worse example was at Felix's funeral, when Oliver is left alone to show his grief. For me this was one of the most important scenes in the entire film. It clearly demonstrated Oliver's sole destroying loss of his greatest friend and someone he loved more than anyone or anything else. Made even more heartbreaking by the fact that you now realise Oliver had felt no option other than to kill Felix, as Felix was no longer going to have anything to do with him and would force him out of Saltburn. As he lay distraught on Felix's grave I actually began to shed a tear as it was so beautifully filmed. Then from nowhere he takes all his clothes off and appears to attempt to have sex with Felix on top of his grave. A GREAT SCENE AND ALL EMOTION TOTALLY DESTROYED !!!
I understand certain films need to shock and borderline disgust the viewer momentarily, such as the horrific and gruesome Saw traps, which actually adds something to these scenes in that type of film, but in an excellent drama such as this I was genuinely taken out of the movie and any emotions, rather than being drawn even further into it. Very much like an unnecessary pit stop in a race, where you then have get yourself back in and rebuild momentum again.
Writer's and director's should be horrified that these over the top and unnecessary shock sequences actually detract from the whole movie watching experience. It's not funny or clever to trick the ticket paying customers with this type of cheap and unnecessary shock factor !!!
Journey to Bethlehem (2023)
What an extremely pleasant surprise.
Like many reviewers I'd never heard of this film and had little interest in watching it .... until I read the other reviews.
Thanks so much in persuading me to watch this little gem of a film.
Clearly the best musical (by a very long way) in recent years, is The Greatest Showman.
This film however, on a mere fraction of the budget (only $6 compared to $84 million), has produced a brilliant soundtrack and thoroughly entertaining movie, that's at least 70-80% as good.
A modern retelling of the birth of Jesus and even though I'm in no way religious, leaves you with a big smile on your face and a glowing warmth in your heart.
Do yourself a favour and treat yourself to this little gem.
Saw X (2023)
Really aimed at fans of the first 3 Saw movies
For Saw fans who think the first 3 films were the best, then they will love Saw X.
If you're like me and prefer Saw IV onwards, then Saw X is a bit disappointing.
This film concentrates totally on John Kramer aka Jigsaw. Tobin Bell is excellent.
The back story to him being scammed on a cure for his brain cancer is good, but way too drawn out.
The traps vary from dull to extremely gory, but some are unfair, which goes against Jigsaws ethos.
The big twist at the end is drawn out and way too predictable.
The main bad person wins a let-off, when she is clearly the only person undeserving of surviving a Jigsaw trap, totally against the whole idea of Saw.
The film is nearly 30 minutes too long.
I still enjoyed it, as I have the entire series, but I would prefer them going back to the hour and a half formula, with more consistent traps and concentrating on flashbacks to John Kramer, but focusing on newer characters like they did with Detective Hoffman , the pathologist in Jigsaw and the new Detective in Spiral.
I look forward to what they do with Saw 11.
Beau Is Afraid (2023)
WHAT? WHO? WHY?
What was this film about?
Who thought it warranted 3 hours?
Why did any studio put money behind this when cinema is already struggling?
Sadly all this film did was :-
1. Annoy me (not one seen made sense or was of any interest).
2. bore me (I had a break to check my phone AND fell asleep).
And ....
3. Anger me for wasting my time and money (that included me walking out about half way through this boring utter nonsense)!!!
Virtually all the characters do various drugs .... all I can think is that so did the writer/director when he created this totally pointless film !!!
The only positive is that Joaquin Phoenix is as always an amazing actor.
Please feel free to watch it yourself,
but .... YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED !!!!!!!
Shooter: Red Light (2018)
Fantastic series totally ruined by ridiculous sad ending
I loved this entire 3 season show, right up the the ending of the final episode, which was needlessly sad and when you really think about it, actually made no sense.
So OK, Red decided not to let things go, accept defeat and move on with his life. That being the case, as an expert sniper himself and wanting to feel the sweet smell of the kill, why pay 100k to hire a South American hit man?
Having done that, does he then sit back and await the benefits of paying all that money?
No, he still puts on his sniper gear and waits for his expert hitman to mess up.
Then he misses Bob Lee, the only threat to him, kills Julie instead and then heads off the Canada thinking job done.
The very final scene of Bob Lee eventually putting a sniper bullet in Red's head is the only thing that made sense, But this should have happened without the pointless, senseless and ridiculous sniper death of Julie.
Clearly the writer's wanted to go for a shock ending, but it made no sense and ruined a fantastic show.
SHAME ON THEM!!!!!!!
Barbarian (2022)
Sorry folks, but I hated it and walked out after an hour.
I am a huge film fan (especially of original clever thrillers or horrors). L have watched 1000s of films at the cinema and only ever walking out of possible half a dozen films over these many years. This film was full of Random characters from random sub plots, all thrown into the same ridiculous situation ..... and all doing the same totally stupid thing that no normal sensible person would ever do. Not sure what vicious horrible things happened to them at the end, but whatever it was I'm afraid they all deserved it and I have little sympathy for any of them. I just found it all very, VERY Annoying!!! Please watch and feel free to disagree with me.
Orphan: First Kill (2022)
Down, Up, Down = Disappointing
After being a big fan of the original 2009 film (and seeing many good reviews on this), I was perhaps too expectant of good things to come. This expectation was soon lost after the main opening sequence. At least 3 pretty obvious/stupid plot flaws (for any decent horror film/thriller), I got quickly unexcited about the remaining movie.
About half way into the film however, I was extremely surprised by an excellent, original twist and hoped this was signs of good things to come.
Sadly, it then quickly returned to a predictable, very average film.
All topped off with an extremely poor and totally ridiculous final dramatic scene.
Still worth a watch, but certainly dont spend too much to see and keep your expectations fairly low.
The Young Ones: Bambi (1984)
What a way to start season 2 .....
The funniest ever episode of this cult British comedy. From the characters swapping places, to wash day, the train trip & finally the funniest ever University Challenge. Everyone involved is a comedy genius ..... with the possible exception of Mike (the boring one)
The VVitch: A New-England Folktale (2015)
"The VVitch" is Avvful !!!!!
Being a huge horror fan, I was really looking forward to watching this film, after the great reviews on IMDb by both Critics & Users ....... BUT WHAT A MASSIVE DISAPPOINTMENT !!!!
New Writer/Director:Robert Eggers has clearly tried to make a horror version of "The Crucible" .... BUT FAILED MISERABLY !!! The 1 out of 10 rating I have given is partially due to the good performances by the cast ... and partially due to IMDb not allowing 0.
It is a real shame that these good performances were drowned in the mire of this dreadful story/script !! Mr Eggers appears to have a passion for long blackout sequences (of 5-10 seconds) after a dramatic scene ..... IT'S A SHAME HE DIDN'T USE THIS BLACKOUT TECHNIQUE FOR THE ENTIRE 92 MINUTES AND DO US ALL A HUGE FAVOUR !!!!! I am a believer in closely following the work of promising new writer/directors, but I'm afraid I will not be viewing any more or Mr Eggers work ... as this film was Truly APPALLING AS A HORROR !!!
Back in 1982 there was a far less clever & cultured horror called "Superstition (aka The Witch)"..... WHICH IS INFINITELY MORE ENTERTAINING AND IS A REAL HORROR FILM!!! Mr Eggers version is pretentious tripe !!!!!!!!!!