Reviews

At first I though this a ' Purge' film. The masked and wigged individual on the poster and letter heading title looked very much like something out of that outstanding franchise.

I did hope that it would have been put to bed after the excellent 'The Forever Purge' which I saw on 8/9/24.

Thankfully, it's not a Purge movie although the political stance it takes throughout with warring voters on either side this could exist in the realm of vengeful people eventually committing heinous acts. Much like some individuals in the USA.

The film itself is a mess of cliches, tiresome characters, lo fi emo music whenever two young people get close, the idiotic teenagers playing up to tragedy by goofing around high school corridors, the same retractable knives etc, bland characters, badly acted by all especially Amy Hargreaves and Jayce Bartok as the major and her opponent. Whenever their on screen they scream and not in a enjoyable way. Then again this hysteria is so much like US politics maybe that was the makers intentions?

I'll admit I was surprised by the killer's identity but lost interest when they started sprouting their reasons for committing murder. An obvious cliché for any slasher horror.

I spent the entire duration looking at how wonderful the trees looked surrounding this lovely looking small town .

It was shot in New Milford, Connecticut.

The horror film I saw just before this, Immaculate, was very standard stuff with little scares or tension, this carries just enough to warrant it as the better of the two films.

However, its still the same old tropes mixed together.

Young Freya Allen is uninteresting and bland in the lead, Ruby Baker is annoying as her girlfriend and a pall of familiarity hangs over the entire film, the CGI (especially the fire at the end, is ropey.

Only a nifty idea, some good scares and solid Peter Mullan as the troubled father add up to the better of the two films.

In fact ,if Mr Mullan were the lead to start with this would have been better film-his craggy face, dominate voice and mere presence would have elevated the film considerably.

Then, since it's aimed at a much younger audience this is null and void.

A pity!

I'll admit I haven't been following this franchise at all. I remember seeing the 1998 film with Richard Smith but after that nada.

I saw this after many websites I respect gave it good reviews , so I took a Pacific deep sea plunge.

I liked it immensely. The characters were humane, sympathetic and well rounded. I liked that the main protagonist is a coward and it racked by guilt by this ( Mr Cruise wouldn't be like this- running towards the danger) It gives a terrific sense of post WW2 hardship and life rebuilding, helped by effective cinematography and soundtrack. Rather than the usual Michael Bay crashing,bashing though skyscrapers ,this takes time to develop characters. Some would find this slow, I found it poignant and deep.

The creature effects are excellent and fully deserving of its Oscar win.

Both Mum and Laura would run a mile then watch this spider infested horror, they're everywhere!

This is a well designed horror with excellent visual (?practical effects) that really treads the line between gross out horror, developing characters and adding much needed taunt tension ( the walk through a tunnel of spiders had me on the edge of my seat) The setting of a run down French tenement building is effectively used to create horror, tension and the largely unknown cast that populate this environment seem they actually live there.

This reminded me of Rec,Evil Dead Rise as a high rise horror chase.

Rose Glass's follow up to Saint Maud is a sweaty,twisty thriller that's reminded me of a mash up of Blood Simple, Bound, Thelma and Louise and Breaking Bad/ Better Call Saul in its depiction of blue collar working class individuals thrown into a nightmare of double dealings, revenge,sex,drugs (with the exception of Bound) all filmed under a sun bleached environment.

Kristen Stewart is excellent in the lead and shows depth and vulnerability, as she did in 'Spencer ' and is fast becoming a solid actor.

Katy O'Brian is dedicated as the pumped up body builder and its good to see Ed Harris again as the scary crime boss (with even scarier hair) Where the film fails is in the stupid last 5mins which is just laughable and utterly stupid (this ruined the film for Laura!) it's like a tacked on fantasy. Was Glass bereft of any other ideas ? Did she deliberately want to add something stupid as a ' breather' for the audience after the bloody events prior. Whatever it is its really weird!

Philip Juma lookalike Dev Patel co writes ,stars and directs this impressive looking action thriller with bone crunching fight scenes mixed in with a surprising amount of character depth; the audience is with the character'Bobby' and his past troubles and Patel effectively shows the painful trauma with a degree of sympathy. Thus rendering the final third as a kind of valedictory kick ass fest.

The streets of Mumbai are well shot and Patel shows the hardships of the homelessness ,especially the young people.

Where I feel the film is let down is,like most action films , a terrific sense of deja vu throughout a smattering of John Wick,Only God Forgives,The Raid (1 and 2).

The editing and cinematography are extremely well done but Patel uses an abundance of close ups that not only confuse the audience as too who is who but gives a nauseous feeling. It's too frantic, even for an actioner.

Nonetheless, this is a bold directional debut from Mr Patel that spends the first half developing characters and story before plunging into the excitement the audience wants.

The fights in the toilet and bar are really really well done.

Please no Monkey Man 2!

One of the- many- great ideas of An American Werewolf in London is how sad and pitiful David finds himself as a werewolf. He's aware of what's inside him and what can come out and he's powerless to stop it. The scene where he attempts to slit his wrists in the phone box is one of the saddest moments in cinema; not just horror.

This new horror from cult writer/director Larry Fessenden explores this idea into a feature length horror, with mixed results.

Its extremely talky and slow that would test the patience of most horror junkies. The film never picks up momentum; even when law enforcement officials go after the' beast' there's a lull in the pacing where an ex girlfriend is making dinner and drinking wine with her new boyfriend. Alex Hurt sadly doesn't have the sympathy that David Naughton displayed in the classic aforementioned 1981 horror but he's solid (as was his late father William Hurt).

The effects and make up are well done despite its low budget.

It's an interesting venture that could have been better developed.

I was actually looking forward to this found footage, 70s inspired horror. Reading the(brief, no trailers) descriptions and a plaudit from Stephen King himself wetted my appetite to the point of me travelling to the Odeon at 2200 AFTER WORK!

Sadly, this is a marginal letdown.

The setup, the 1970s looking TV studio, all the qips of making a live TV event, David Dastmalchain playing the ever grinning host, the rough looking photographic sheen all are top notch.

I felt a tremendous feeling of deja vu throughout ,almost like its a greatest hits package of other horrors mainly 1992s BBC cult horror Ghostwatch, that it doesn't establish anything original.

For those who haven't seen ANY horror films then they may find things scarier here than I did.

A predictedable stew of jump cuts,demonic voices, lights smashing,demonic images intercut with a static image, spewing, cursing etc.

And it just ain't scary.

Koji Yakusho commands the screen in the lead, as a toilet cleaner in Tokyo, getting the most out of life by setting beauty in the most everyday, mundane things- trees blowing in the wind ( my man!!), plants and flowers, being kind to others.

His outlook is like the film quiet and reflective.

Like most Wim Wenders films this is meditative and slow paced; it will please some and anger others.

The story is really thin and doesn't develop and like Lost in Translation its more concerned with showing us the everyday city surroundings of Tokyo rather than giving the audience drama or narrative.

Tranquility will wash over. This is either a good or bad thing.

I didn't dislike it but maybe would have liked it more if I was hungover. It's a soothing balm that isn't taxing ie a gentle, sweet cure to a hangover.

Heaven knows what the talented but miscast Hilary Swank is doing in this overblown,silly thriller that looks like a glossy Vogue and GQ mash up with a pinch of Fatal Attraction,Basic Instinct, Jade . In fact its looks very much like a straight to video 90s thriller, that is forgettable as soon as the TV is switched off.

The music is obtrusive and overdone, it's badly acted by all inc Ms Swank(who doesn't convince one iota as a detective), poorly directed- the tension is watered down by poor editing and the said music score.

However, for a' forget it but let it all hang out after a busy day' type of thriller, it's twisty and those willing to leave their problems, and brains, at the door you could do far worse!

There's a lot to say about how our culture is defined by rules, regulations and taste in this well done comedy, that had me laughing and smiling(knowingly)throughout.

I'll like to double bill this with the equally sharp black comedy'The Lesson' about how authors publish their work and how prissy and self important people who bang on about language really are (at times), I'm looking at you Judy and Mark! Whilst most hard working people just want is too let go and be entertained at the end of their day.

The analogy of the Jonnie Walker whisky here is deliberately aimed at this observation.

Jeffrey Wright is excellent in the lead and really feels like a writer with the added loathing and cynicism that'Miles' displays in Sideways- in fact, the film has a loose,jazzy style like Sideways and he leads a well picked cast.

One of my films of the year!

This bizarre, odd drama/thriller had many critics rolling their eyes I'm disbelief, according to the reviews I read.

I found it daring, ballsy, utterly strange ,poignant and had lots of heart.

It also contains lots of cute,lovely dogs.... Caleb Laundry Jones continues his journey into playing socially detached, awkward characters and like his previous effective performance in Nitram,he isn't afraid of portraying them with a sense of sympathy either.

He's one of the best actors around at the moment.

To play a disabled guy in leg irons,dressed in drag takes courage in today's toxic,cancel culture.

The film is like a twisted version of Oliver Twist,with dogs as the artful dodgers.

The Little Big Man/Forrest Gump style setup works on showing the audience show this strange man with his'children' of dogs came to be.

Only the ending feels rushed and out of place.

This lean 90min two person trapped in a car set up is well acted by the two leads, has an unexpected twist at the end of the first act and is well designed, despite its low budget,in the unforgiving, harsh snowstorm outside the car.

Some will find it needlessly talky throughtout it's, short, run time about the psychology of what drives 'David' to do what he does ,I however, found this interesting and added adds character and depth to this troubled mind.

Only the last five minutes let the film down with the appearance of a possible spirit in the forest/Wending that haunts the nightmares of David suddenly becoming'real' , this isn't a monster movie made real but more the'monsters' within us that drive us.

It felt cheap and tacked on!

The original 1989 Roadhouse wasn't great art, it didn't inspire people to become filmmakers, it doesn't appear in the top 100 movies but it was terrific entertainment with a witty and quotable script , a solid corrupt businessman,old fashioned style fights and a charismatic lead in Patrick Swayze. Whenever it's on TV I'll always watch it.

Here the story has been expanded to include a greedy,greasy yuppie, a corrupt police force, a zero chemistry love interest (as was the original with Kelly Lynch playing the least convincing Dr ever) a pumped up human steroid in Conor McGregor and more backstory to Dalton's character.

Jake G (too tired to spell his surname!)at least looks the part below the head wise but seems rather miscast- he doesn't look a fighter, too clean cut.

It's colourful, well set in the Florida keys, has some funny scenes - the beat up thugs being taken to hospital in the car,has something to say about the amount of morons being patched up in understaffed under resourced hospitals (did the writers overhear me?!!) and has plenty of well choreographed fight scenes.

It didn't need to be remade but is a passable time killer.

After his bravura performance in UNCUT GEMS, Adam Sandler is developing into a fine almost daring actor that bequeathed his age. He portrays isolation and loneliness into an intriguing characterization of a astronaut heading to Jupiter to collect space dust.

Despite, impressive visuals this is neither a creepy sci fi nor a decent horror expressionism nor a sturdy character study- it's more like a sub Malick dreamy cross cutting of Sandler looking mournful, thinking of the past with his wife (an underwritten Carey Mulligan) and talking to an ? Imaginary spider.

Either way it's rather tedious.

For an isolated man alone in a hostile place it ain't Castaway or even the much better Sci fi Ad Astra.

My issue with some romantic dramas/comedies is the casting and script need to be spot on in delivering the chemistry needed between the two lovers- the audience needs to invest whether their romance is believable and whether they have a chance.

This was something the well done but flawed Past Lives failed too do!

Here, I was emotionally invested with these two poor, downtrodden, hard up characters that I really really wanted them to be together.

The film shows the grubby side of Finland ,the working class , and its shot with a keen eye that it reminded me of Blue Velvet with the Hoppersque/Caravaggio style framings that blend in the characters loneliness.

It's also blackly funny but not too mocking of its sad,lonely characters.

At 81mins it's the perfect length that most films nowadays need to take note of.

Despite the poor title(the character isn't referred to that much, even more so for the audience to remember his name) and a uninvolving romantic sub plot with his friend's sister that is underwritten, this is a chilly, well acted drama.

Like Munich: The Edge of War and One Life the German occupation is a catalyst in providing a tense background for a story where anything can happen.

I thought the bleakness added to the overall tragedy especially at the end, which may alienate some hoping for a happy ending.

With The Zone of Interest and One Life , the topic of the Holocaust is still prevalent and important.