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Au-delà des murs (2016)
Truly wonderful
I watched this without knowing the synopsis because Je suis un Rebel.
I can honestly say it keeps you hooked throughout, a mix between the Minotaurs labyrinth and the old horror film house,mixed with some horror film tropes.
There are two main characters once the introduction passes and the story begins. Both are endearing and have deeper concerns to be unveiled.
As the story progresses, their raison d'etre begin to unfold into a sad tale a love that cannot be help for longer than the moments they are together due to time.
I want to write so much about this - but it would also be full of spoilers so go give it a watch.
It is a must see, indeed a true masterpiece.
Well done!
Joker (2019)
A must read review for a must view film
I watched JOKER with superhero trepidation.
As a stout Marvel fan and and having been somewhat let down by the promise that DC were going darker following Batman Begins and The Dark Knight (killings aside), I entered the theatre wondering what kind of picture Warner brothers would present.
Some of the adverts prior to the movie were drolé and tried to replicate the suggested horror and intrigue that would be presented in the film, but the copycats fell short of the truth.
Joker presents a dark and intrepid insight into the origins of one of DC's most fabled villains.
The acting by Phoenix was sublime and the setting held true to the history of the character and the references to the origins of batman were there to be seen.
I do not want to dwell much on the story of the film as it would detract and deter some from witnessing this visual extravaganza and performance, and to surmise Joaquin Phoenix gives his soul to this homage and becomes truly encapsulating.
To bring this into modern context, it is a man who suffers from mental illness who loses his right to help from the government due to budget cuts whilst the over pompous capitalists drink champagne, ride in limo's and sleep in mansions whilst profiting from the lesser man. Much of this is only hinted at however and bares little influence to the piece as The Joker is not a political figure until he emerges from his metamorphis, which only occurs following a dramatic event - and this itself only happens near the end of the film.
Phoenix depicts a truly delirious, deep, and troubled character haunted by the events of his family life which have echoed into his present and in some ways dictate his behavior's such as his memorable, yet haunting, uncontrollable laugh - which is well characterized in the movie.
There are a lot of comments regarding mental impairments and how this movie should have been a higher classification - but having looked at the BBFC category wording it neither dwells on any particular situation nor glorifies it - however it is a deep portrayal of a troubled and well know (sic) super villain and in the film there are at least 2 somewhat contentious moments so watch at your own {peril}.
This film in my view, has been released at the most appropriate time. The world is waking up to the fact that fat cats (which include movie stars) are milking the lesser man (sic) as the societal gaps widens between rich and poor and this real life occurrence is well represented in this film.
Ad Astra (2019)
Poncy bore fest
BOOM
KABLAM
ZZZZAaaPPPppp
OOOh OOh Ahh Ahhh
Bingo Bango.
.....
Now after that excitement time for the reality check review.
Ad Astra is hugely disappointing. Billed with the big names:
Brad Pitt. Donald Sutherland. Tommy Lee Jones
Lets be honest most of us wanted to see Brad Pitt in a space movie to see if he could bring some magic to the solar system - well he doesn't.
Both Donald Sutherland & Tommy Lee Jones are bit parts at best with Tommy lee Jones looking ready for the retirement home.
The aesthetic of the film did maintain a 80'sish vibe as the film is set somewhere in the near future some of the technology looked plausible mergeing the old space junk with the new. But showing scenes on the moonwhere they have created mega underground concrete tunnels and on mars where there are unexplained watery lakes was puzzling.
There were many, many, many parts in the film however which were utterly ridiculous and denied any possible logic thus the narrative in the film had to explain the most obvious mistakes to us, like a fumbled resemblance of a plot, or how people were feeling.
The directors clearly though this film was boring as they had to add in extra forced excitement such as:
1. Brad pitts vessel stopping to aid in a Mayday call for a biological craft. Two of them, 'Tanner' and Pitt, flew across space to force entry to this vessel where there were just a few empty chambers. They separate whilst searching for survivors only for Tanner to not respond to a radio call and Pit to find him mauled by a space Ape. - So many holes here but the most obvious is - if they are on voice communication why didn't we at least hear a scream?! This whole sequence lasted about 6 minutes...
2. Brad pitt jumps off the Lima (the final spaceship) propelling himself at the perfect angle and speed, with a sheet of 3mm aluminium that he uses as a shield to defend against an asteroid belt, once hes left the belt he suddenly stops losing any speed at all and has to use the jetpacks on his kit.He then crash lands on his own spacecraft tumbling down the length of the shuttle only to land perfectly on the door which seems to be thinner that the shield he had just used.
3. Pitts shuttles uses the nuclear detonation from the 'Lima' to propel his spacecraft back to earth.If anybody has seen Chernobyl your mind should be working overtime...
I am amazed at some of the reviews this film has got, but I think back to films like Solaris and event horizon and can only think this film is trying to get an award as its just poncy critics that will give this a rating over 7 or 6....
for 99.999% of the people it will be a bore fest film that ignores physics and logic whilst trying to pass itself of as a plausible film.
Mum (2016)
A truly touching comedy, touching on some of real life problems
I originally watching this series from series 2 - a strange place to start and it took a while for the character development to occur - however when I watched series 1 everything set its self in place....
Focusing on the woman of the household played by Lesley Manville, it is quite a heartwarming situ comedy which seems to place itself on certain lifetime events from within the family perspective be it mothers day or children moving out or going on holiday...
The children in the show are probably the weakest element of it - as they portray stereo typical teenagers yet appear in the body's of 20 somethings and over empathises the naivety you expect from a 16 year old...
That being said the dialogue and and issues tackled are on point and I often wonder about my own mother and family experiences - is that how she felt, is that what went on in her brain...
It is not the most polished of shows and the direction could be a bit more speedy and the children a little less idiotic however it has had me close to tears on occasion which for a 6'3 male is a hard thing to do.
Kudos to the team, I hope they continue to bring this different comedic performance into future series
Wunderland (2018)
Battle of the low budget Bulge worth the watch with an open mind!
Wunderland is a film based in a time frame around the Battle of the bulge which itself was the last major German offensive campaign on the western front.
The film itself is based around a platoon defending against the German aggressors in the Ardennes Forrest in Belgium.
Directed by Steven Luke, it also stars Tom Berenger famouse for Platoon, Sniper and Born on the 4th of July - so he comes from good war movie stock - sadly his role in the film is limited, which may be a reflection on the small budget this film had,
The budget must have been tiny, as you see the various troops roam around a 'could be anywhere' landscape with only several vehicles per side and some really cheap/Free(sic) special effects which is basically a snow filter layer on top of the video footage.
Talking about snow and the period of the film, it is based at Christmas 1944 during one of Americas most brutal battles where they lost around 20,000 American soldiers, and the ice and snow had a tremendously huge impact on this period, foxholes could not be dug, tanks and traks struggled to traverse the land, infantry were frozen, malnurished and struggled to fight - not of this was strongly represented in this film, and for those looking for a casual war film you will have already stopped watching as the filtered snow effect was something you would see on a youtube amateur video rather than a historic war film depicting a story of bravery.
That being said, and armed with some historical knowledge I enjoyed the film - despite the actual footage being terribly short- and I would encourage people to watch it with an open mind and after doing some research.
Once the film has ended there is something on the scroll that 99% of people will never see - following the credits and lasting around 10 minutes, there are around 8-12 written stories of bravery of individual soldiers accomplishing Acts of bravery, and valour way beyond any call of duty and it is these historical, war and battle winning acts that make the film, and its evident on reflection the writer and director tried to use these examples in the storytelling of the film.
I do wish the memorial stories had been voiced over and were added chronologically, but reading these certainly invoked a lot of emotion and its commendable that these untold stories are brought to light.
On a side note, the memorial stories would make a great 2hr chronological anthology film about the battles in the Ardennes -any budding director out that feeling enthused to make a film like that - please add me to the cast!
A film worth watching with an open mind, let down by a crippling budget 7/10
Star Trek: Discovery (2017)
New, deeper and darker ! Amazing
So here we are with another series of Star Trek with lots of cheesy lines and bad acting.... No wonder my partner does not want to watch it!
...but wait I am 3 episodes in and the usual bad acting and, cheap jokes have yet to make an appearance.
The new ''ST:D'' <(yea someone was having a laugh there weren't they?)> appears on our screen as a mature watch, credible actors, engaging storyline and great special effects/cgi.
It reminds me of what batman begins attempted to do with that series, and take it down a darker path and aim for a more mature audience.
Every episode so far feels like it belongs in the cinema and that is highly commendable. I have been watching the other new TV series Orville - it has a star trek feel but is certainly aimed at the comedy market so watching the two in a week is awesome as you get the whole sci fi feeling....
I know the trekkie purists will be angry at another retread at a prequel... and I am no hardcore trekkie. But change is good... It follows on from the recent films the first of which attempted to change the trekkie world meaning anything from that point can change!
ST:D (haha) is for me the best thing to happen in recent years, so other than a trip to the doctors I am awarding it a 10/10!!
Britannia (2017)
Game of Thrones, Meets Vikings Meets bad direction and script
I first watched Britannia by chance...
I was stumbling slong the internet and saw an advert showing this guy that was in those tired two season of Walking dead.... then I saw a couple of other familiar faces.... other people otherwise dead to tv ''saisons''....
I like most loved Game of thrones... It had hobbit esque mystique and lore... and clearly the picturehouse threw a lot of money at it, the character development was deep.
Vikings on the otherhand was never made to be a huge success, it started simple and 1 directional and yet, it encapsulated the nord mythology with some amazing episodes (Blood eagle)...
And then there is Britannia...
I cannot work out whether it is just budget, very poor acting or poor script... but it just does not work...
The script is bad, the acting is overall bad with some severely forced emotions which tells me more that the cast were not happy with the script.... but the direction seems to copy way too much from the aforementioned.
I am happy there it is here, I am happy it addresses a different period to what we have seen before but I am severely unhappy that not only have they seemed to write this as a cash cow following on from the success of the aforementioned, but I am also unhappy that they have dragged un from the gutter former starlites who drifted into obscurity... because they were not up to scratch.
The language used in the script is clearly an attempt at forcing drama.... but again against Vikings it fails.. it just does not fit. I do not want to give anything away, and I insist you watch this... - from the historical point of view...
but do not, please do not... expect anything more than BBC 4 filler TV...
An opportunity waster based on season 1.
Star Trek: Discovery (2017)
New, deeper and darker ! Amazing
So here we are with another series of Star Trek with lots of cheesy lines and bad acting.... No wonder my partner does not want to watch it!
...but wait I am 3 episodes in and the usual bad acting and, cheap jokes have yet to make an appearance.
The new ''ST:D'' <(yea someone was having a laugh there weren't they?)> appears on our screen as a mature watch, credible actors, engaging storyline and great special effects/cgi.
It reminds me of what batman begins attempted to do with that series, and take it down a darker path and aim for a more mature audience.
Every episode so far feels like it belongs in the cinema and that is highly commendable. I have been watching the other new TV series Orville - it has a star trek feel but is certainly aimed at the comedy market so watching the two in a week is awesome as you get the whole sci fi feeling....
I know the trekkie purists will be angry at another retread at a prequel... and I am no hardcore trekkie. But change is good... It follows on from the recent films the first of which attempted to change the trekkie world meaning anything from that point can change!
ST:D (haha) is for me the best thing to happen in recent years, so other than a trip to the doctors I am awarding it a 10/10!!
The Maze Runner (2014)
6/10
This film...
What was i expecting? maze challenges!! thats what the name suggests...
however i feel i am disappointed....
this is hunger games#1 mark 3....
similar story history and because of this rather disappointing...
for obvious reasons i am nothing going too in depth... watch it on DVD do not see it at cinema!
Hollywood is clutching at straws here... Perhaps next year there will be some better writers... At the moment, you never feel like you connect with the protagonists! its more a jaunt round a sand pit with dinner at evil grannys than a film which is meant to raise emotions.... the British kid who dies (lol can u guess who??) is OK.... he has come far! but he is capable of more and this film for any of the participants never encapsulates their abilities... let me direct i will have a better chance!
Noah (2014)
Quick Summary
Russell Crowe is such a good actor.
I cannot understand why he would do this film. Obviously a massive payday of course...!
In a nutshell this is an Animal Rights film with biblical undertones... It was painful to watch!
I have seen better indie movies than this...
If you want to watch a film this year make it something like edge of tomorrow, or perhaps watch some TV box sets like True Blood, True Detective, Game of Thrones or Vikings! They are all great visual experiences.... This sadly is just one big rotten apple!
Avoid or Regret it!
Righteous Kill (2008)
Two of the alltime greatest actors in another sterling performance
i grew up watching movies starring these two greats, de niro and pacino.
From gangster films to romantic comedy's they've entertained millions with their performances. This film is one of those great films. A cop story with a sociopathic killer cop, the two captains of the screen go on a hunt to cover their tracks as 1 murder of a villain starts the chain of 13 more cold blooded assassinations. The end scene epitomises their great acting styles and their shared camaraderie of the decades and with the two nearing retirement it almost symbolised a goodbye to each other who were as Fisk said, ''a great team''.
Although the film didn't bring anything new to the police crime genre. It did have you second guessing throughout the majority.
I hope this isn't the final film from them, but if so that it has been a pleasure.
Lake Dead (2007)
Top Dollar Fun
Despite its low budget lake dead proved to be a thrill ride and the overall appearance seemed to add to the drama. Some of the conversations between the cast i thought sounded like my partner and i chatting away, or i thought mmm missus would say that... combine that with all the one liners that were present and it seemed to add an almost comic element to the proceedings. I also felt that the sound was all over the place but you can only ask so much from an inexperienced cast and production team.
All in all an enjoyable romp with a Freudian twist.
I'll give you £10 towards the next film :D
The Vault (2005)
So bad, its awful...
I'm a fan of bas rutten, action men, action dolls, ufc and all other actionized kindred spirits. . . but this movie was absolutely dreadful. From the wooden acting, pathetically stupid fight scenes, mis-timed action in general, and don't even get me started on the weapons. The 'flash' leaving the gun was highly comical at first in an obscure kinda way. But soon became tiresome, and oft, again mistimed. The sound man in charge of syncing the ''action'' with the sound must have been ill on the day of the final cut. If die hard has a rating of say . . . 1000, i would give this film. . . . 57 points, and thats only because ruttens in it as opposed to it being any good. If your going to watch this, don't forget your pillow.