Month: September 2021

Prisoners of the Ghostland (2021)

Rating 15
Length 1h43
Release 17.9.2021
Director Sion Sono
About In the treacherous frontier city of Samurai Town, a ruthless bank robber gets sprung from jail by a wealthy warlord whose adopted granddaughter has gone missing. He offers the prisoner his freedom in exchange for retrieving the runaway. Strapped into a leather suit that will self-destruct in five days, the bandit sets off on a journey to find the young woman — and his own path to redemption.
Moon: no moon sighting
Where to Watch: Online rental
Trailer:

The Good

  • Nic Cage is at his most bat-shit in this Escape from New York/ Mad Max mashup. I don’t know about anyone else, but if I’m watching a Nic Cage film I need to see him howling to the moon in a way only he can do.
  • It is a beautiful film. The aesthetics of East and West cultures colliding is nothing new, however the way in which they are consistently and visually at odds with each other somehow works.

The Bad

  • Sofia Boutella is wasted in the role. A third of the film she’s placed in unflattering geisha make-up and another third she’d left catatonic. You have this beautiful, well trained actress. Use that. Perhaps its due to last minute casting, but she is much better than the role she was given.

The Ugly

  • Its not quite coherent enough and is certainly more style over substance. Biggest problem for me is the number of flashbacks. It adds nothing to the story to have so many. Especially those scenes that revolve around the opening scene. Because the reveals in the flashbacks are so heavily implied anyway it just bloats the film.
  • It really does seem that the director is trying too hard to hide the inspirations behind the film. To the point that the story is lost completely. The characters are not ones you sympathise with, or get to know in any way beyond the superficial.

Final Thoughts

Honestly, if you press play and make it to the end; kudos.

Underwater (2020) Review

Rating 15
Length 1h35
Release 30.1.2020
Director William Eubank
About Norah and her team find themselves in a dangerous situation as they work at the bottom of the Mariana Trench and clash against an unidentified species.
Moon: no moon sighting
Where to Watch: Sky Movies
Trailer:

The Good

  • The cinematography, set design and editing is phenomenal. There’s plenty of clever edits that allow for a progression of plot.
  • John Gallager Jr should be in everything. I love him and his character in this is no exception. Why is he not in more things?
  • Music. Oh I absolutely loved the soundtrack, score and general sound of this film. It all adds to the claustrophobic atmosphere.
  • The Suits! While I have questions about their practicality, I just love the look and the bulk of them.

The Bad

  • There are themes within the film that are not fully developed and it really does mean that the story suffers as a result. The two big things being the Alice in Wonderland elements that creep in, but never really develop into the allegory they could.
    The second is the Cthulhu Mythos. While some sources claim the whole story is based upon the Lovcraft writings, others claim that the creatures featured only took their form in post production.
  • There’s too many nods to Alien. To the point that it stops being a homage or Easter Egg and instead a straight out ripoff.

The Ugly

  • T J Millar. Obviously, he’s a dick. We all know he’s scum of the greatest proportions. However, the character is also a dick so he’s kind of perfect for the role.
  • Kristen Stewart’s portrayal is inconsistent, with the majority of her performance at best reflecting a bought of constipation, at worst a block of soggy wood.
    I did notice that scenes in which her character reacts with multiple characters are much better than when the camera is solely focused on her. The less said about the Twilight flashback narration, the better.

Final Thoughts

Its a pale imitation of Alien and Aliens with nothing new to add.

Candyman (2021) Film Review

Rating 12
Length 1h31
Release 27.8.2021
Director Nina DaCosta
About In present day, a decade after the last of the Cabrini towers were torn down, Anthony and his partner move into a loft in the now gentrified Cabrini. A chance encounter with an old-timer exposes Anthony to the true story behind Candyman. Anxious to use these macabre details in his studio as fresh grist for paintings, he unknowingly opens a door to a complex past that unravels his own sanity and unleashes a terrifying wave of violence.
Moon: no moon sighting
Where to Watch: Playing in Cinemas now
Trailer:

The Good

  • The cinematography is absolutely stunning. Not only in of itself, but in the parallels from the original. Its artistic, its complimentary and its beautiful.
  • The shadow puppets used to tell the myth and legend of Candyman are perfect use of storytelling.
  • The story convincingly weaves in the narrative from the 1992 film, while ensuring those who come to this film without seeing the precursor won’t feel excluded. While a sequel, it does work as a stand-alone
  • The cast is diverse. Not only do we have a gay couple, we have an interracial gay couple. There is comments in reviews stating that it is only white people that are killed in this film. Well, I urge them to take a second watch.

The Bad

  • There’s a b-plot storyline surrounding the protagonist’s girlfriend; played beautifully by Teyonna Paris. The plot thread fits in really well and certainly gives the audience and opportunity to understand and sympathise with Brianna. However, its dropped as quickly as it was brought up. It’s almost as if a scene or two were cut and they would have made it more than this filler story.
  • I do find it odd that the one thing that didn’t carry over from the original, was the protagonist being arrested, or even questioned by the police. With all the clever parallels, it’s a shame this one was missed.

The Ugly

  • The reviews outside trying to say this is a racist movie. From “its too political” to “Only white people die”. God, you can just feel the white privilege oozing off the reviews. This movie is telling the same story that was told in 1992. Only bloody difference is that the protagonist was white and provided an almost smokescreen to viewers.
    This *is* a political movie. It is a black movie, it always was. The story’s origins come from Liverpool and the class divide there. As soon as the story’s movie moved from the UK to USA, Chicago in particular, the race divide was much more acute. Gentrification in the USA was about race. However, it is still about class divide. Both then, and now. To boil it down and go ‘urg, too political’ does a disservice to everyone involved. Be honest, just say ‘it made me uncomfortable’ because that’s what you really mean.
  • The other aspect of ‘too political’, could perhaps be the final act in which the police shoot someone without due cause, much in the same way Candyman was imprisoned. Yes, it might hit home a little different in the wake of George Floyd. However, to think this ending was put in *because* of George Floyd shows you’re part of the problem. The protests, the outrage, the lingering memory of his name is not because he was an isolated incident but because it was so frequent.
    The easiest way to put this argument to bed? This film was due for a June 2020 release. George Floyd was killed 25th May 2020. This film was wrapped and in the can way before then, so that ending was already filmed.

Final Thoughts

A little cleaner, much more clear cut than its direct predecessor. The final act, in the wake of George Floyd , may make some feel uncomfortable. Hell, some people will go so far as to say it’s ‘too political’. Well, isn’t that because you feel guilty? For me, that means this film has most definitely done its job.

Double Jeopardy (1999) Film Review

Rating 15
Length 1h45
Release 28.1.2000
Director Bruce Bereford
About A woman arrested for her husband’s murder is sentenced to six years imprisonment. After her release, she sets out to find her son and the truth about the murder as she suspects foul play.
Moon: no moon sighting
Where to Watch: Netflix
Trailer:

The Good

  • I’ve seen the trailer for this film about a million times, so to say that this film surprised me was a bit of an understatement. I’ve always thought that Tommy Lee Jones was the husband and the ferry car crash was how he ‘died’. There’s just something quite nice about being thrown off from the get go.
  • I really like Ashley Judd in this. Judd makes for a really sympathetic and strong leading lady.
  • Bruce Greenwood. He improves literally anything he’s in and I really do like that I’ve now seen him play a nasty role. He wears it well.

The Bad

  • The evolution of time isn’t very well structured. I know we get the cake, but I think I’d have liked a little more. Even something simple as removing the highlights from her hair.
  • I don’t get why there’s the insistence that her boy, Matty, doesn’t go to her parents when it’s the first person she goes to when she flees custody.
  • There’s a few other plot holes that I can’t think of right now, but because it’s not as fast paced as similar thrillers, they’re a little more obvious.

The Ugly

  • How laws work. The whole premise hangs on a law that the film interprets wrongly. Like, its a glaring flaw. There’s also this idea that her child is kidnapped. Yes, she’s given custody over, but is it not a little suspect?
  • This suffers with a similar fate at What Lies Beneath in the respect that the trailer and blurb reveal the ‘faked death’, while the film plays it as a reveal. It makes that opening scene heavy and hard work. In a film that’s not got much time to play with, it really didn’t need to spend that long building up to the ‘crime’. I guess there’s an attempt here to not be The Fugitive. However, the result is that the film loses some of its suspense. Netflix doesn’t help matters by having the reveal scene as it’s preview.

Final Thoughts

An enjoyable, if not heavily flawed, entry into the crime thriller that was popular in the 90s. It’s something I’d love to see a return of. Perhaps without the need to ignore the blatant plot holes.

Poseidon (2006)

Rating 12
Length 1h39
Release 1.6.2006
Director Wolfgang Petersen
About On New Year’s Eve, a giant wave crashes into Poseidon, a luxurious cruise liner, and flips it upside down. As the ship begins to sink, the passengers struggle to find a way to survive.
Moon: multiple times during the first 15 minutes.
Where to Watch: Netflix
Trailer:

The Good

  • The cast they got on board (ugh, that was such an unintended pun) is incredible. From the big names to the up and comings, its a ‘what are they from?’ smorgasbord.
  • The increasing budgets and improvements in GCI and set design all add to this film. It’s a spectacle and there’s a sense of intense jeopardy from a lot of the set pieces.

The Bad

  • For a 90ish minute film, it doesn’t half drag, and lag and really have to work for my attention. Even the 15 minutes spent with the ship the right way up was just too long.
  • There are plot threads that never seem to have any pay off. The most glaring being the stowaway one. I may have missed it, because I did blank out in the middle there, but I’m not sure that Dreyfuss’ Richard ever realised Elena was bunked up with the guy he gave the shaft. (Okay, that one; I meant) It felt like it was a high stakes set up, that didn’t peak. However, I must say that Richard could have quite easily been the dick, but he was actually quite charming.

The Ugly

  • IMDB trivia. Oh God, who the fuck cares that Kurt Russell plays a fightfighter in Backdraft AND in this. Jesus! If the information is already there, don’t fill out another comment card.
  • This film spends too much preamble trying to make us care, that it has a negative impact. Fucking wipe them out, all of them. A film should never have you itching for the boat to tip.
  • That is not Holt, that’s just some Common bitch. Why on earth do we keep cutting back to the ball room? Again, I think it’s about making us care, giving us that bit of hope that they’ll survive. Hate to break it to you, but its all superficial and you never have hope, even if it was Andre Braugher leading the remainers.
  • There are too many names in the group that head up to the bottom of the boat. It means there’s no fear whenever they come to each puzzle of disaster movie proportions. Equally, though the death that is meant to have the gut-punch shock of the original doesn’t work because the character has been fighting against another lead throughout the movie.

Final Thoughts

Stick to the original