stuartadams-61834 Reviews

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba - To the Hashira Training (2024)

Most peculiar cinema experience ever

[5/10 · 28 February 2024]

So, ...it's not a movie, ... personally I really just enjoy the spectacle of manga and animation in general on the big screen and demon slayer never disappoints for energy style, visual bravura, and spectacle, and that's why I gave it 6 stars,

but it's not a movie, people on here saying Wots the problem, errrmm, it's just an etiquette thing I guess, if you go to the movies you expect to see a movie, I certainly haven't ever before in the past 40 years, you can put two old episodes and another two episodes, and rehash several montages of backstory, and you get a gloriously nutty filler.

But it ain't a movie!!!! FFS!!!!

In fairness...They don't even attempt to make a movie, it felt like when you used to record stuff on VHS, I was half expecting somebody's brothers wedding and the best man's speech, that might have been a nice radical sardonic touch, still enjoyed it more than most of the tawdry dross coming out of Hollywood, walked out of Argyle, but I know when I've been stung, and this is a sting of a movie, so I can appreciate both the disappointment and even hurt of some fans and cinema goers, what I will say is that it sets it all up nicely for the next film, which should be an absolute banger.

So 1 for this, and a slap on the wrist 9 for visual feast Bring on the real Demon Slaying mayhem and style next time out!

Killers of the Flower Moon (2023)

45 minutes too long

[6/10 · 2 November 2023]

Firstly it looks great, and the editing is as ever masterful, I always look for her name, I think it's Thelma Schoonmaker, I know she has edited for Scorsese for over 30 years and she's a genius, the production design is great, (a special mention for Leo's teeth!) the sense of era and cultural tone immersive, the story fascinating,... so what goes wrong, why do I start clock watching after an hour, knowing I've got another 135 minutes to sit through, well, I think it's a question of vanity, screenplay and perspective. Vanity on the part of the director and the two male leads, in particular di Caprio who is asked to, though I have the feeling he enjoyed it, mug for the camera in mid shot every different way conceivable, all amounting to being a slimy wretch, the screen play by Scorsese and Eli Roth, in so many ways is a conundrum, a piece of restraint, and detail, but without any character arc told essentially from the point of the bad guys and this is the major flaw, perspective! Because the bad guys are essentially bad throughout, nothing shifts essentially except the ever more gruesome depths to which they'll sink, in total denial of their immorality, they have no depth, they are evil at its most banal, in the same way as America itself was in this era of apartheid, so then it's just a gawkish bit of rubber necking at their hideous exploits, given the fact that it's so long, less screen time for De Niro and Di Caprio and more time for the frankly incredible ensemble would have elicited more sympathy and more emotional breadth, and impact, in essence it's an exploration of a tawdry evil, which we are confronted with relentlessly, and the pace drags interminably do that it commits that most heinous of cinematic sins, it becomes dull, and the constant playing of rootsy southern blues Americana to place it and emphasise the melancholy starts to grate whilst trying to act as filler, this could and should have been great and the story deserved it to be, the victims, not least Molly who is a superbly realised and acted heroine, but I have a feeling that ultimately the problem was that this was crying out to be a mini series, not a movie, and getting caught in between loses the best of both genres.

Five Nights at Freddy's (2023)

Isn't it time to say Blumhouse suck!?

[5/10 · 30 October 2023]

Personally I never quite bought Josh Hutcherson in the Hunger Games franchise, but that was probably because next to Jennifer Lawrence and her charisma and star quality he looked like a joe Schmo from Idaho.

I thought he was good in this, a broken every man again but in this low key project he works The subject matter is dark, very dark and the situation however absurd connects perfectly with the subject matter, only Blumhouse don't follow through as with so many of their movies, it shows promise then weakens, and ends up Meh But for two acts it's promising if lacking in some much needed gore, we did Hammer we don't need Hammer, give us some pay off, we don't see any body or rather baddy get any comeuppance, and they do obviously just want to make another so they forgot to actually just make a great third act, in a way the premise got too uncomfortable for them and they bailed, I genuinely thought I'd hate this, but I didn't, in the end I was disappointed because I liked it and the set up, the subject, the scenario, could have been great, it could have been The Shining but it wasn't even Chucky! Blumhouse seems to have a blueprint for a middle of the road product that doesn't rock too many boats, and so studios feel comfortable with their low budget safe box office fayre, it's a great business model but makes for run of the mill cinema.

A Haunting in Venice (2023)

Much to like, but Branagh isn't Poirot

[7/10 · 17 September 2023]

The change of setting to Venice is inspired, it gives it an otherworldly and insular, claustrophobic tone, which is emphasised by the camera work, and lighting, this one is tricky to review without spoilers so I must be brief, and leave some ideas out, the script is close to superb, but it just hits a couple of bum notes, the third act is over too soon, the denouement rushed, but in part it's because the mystery for all the effort and effects isn't that mysterious, but fundamentally the problem is Branagh, he obviously wants to be Poirot, but he isn't, he just isn't idiosyncratic enough, or dare I say talented enough, and he pales in comparison to the giant magnificent performances that have been before, the genius of Peter Ustinov only surpassed by the subtlety and diligence and sheer depth of David Suchet, one of the greatest acting performances ever, unfortunately for Branagh it's a tough school, and he just doesn't make the grade, gave it a 7, felt like an 8, but also a 6 coz of KBs love letter to himself.

The Three Musketeers - Part I: D'Artagnan (2023)

Close to great, but not quite

[8/10 · 24 April 2023]

I don't usually do spoilers, but a few things didn't hit about this for me, and they spoilt it, so this is a review for them that have seen it really, see if this tallies... The first half hour is so exciting, and the pace of the whole film is excellent, the look is grimy and gritty, and it is appealingly French, if you know what I mean.

The first big sword sequence is sensational, but the disappointment is it is never matched, and this brings me to my major bug bare; when they save the Queen at the abbey, it all happens from inside the room, I get the idea, but sorry writers, we want to see the Musketeers, not feel the queens fear, we should have been tossed between the intimacy and fear of that room, and the heroes in pitch battle, and this was a major opportunity missed.

The other 3 things I would have done differently, again are all with my writers head on, I thought Porthos casting was a bit meh, and there's a scene with him in the tavern which has one of the great lines then he goes on about his sexuality, I didn't believe it and it was unnecessary given we see him laying sleeping after a ménage a trois, also I would have had him rolling around with m'lady after coming off the horse and her breaking free and jumping rather than falling backwards, and finally I would have had dartagnan coached or taking the butt of a rifle trying to get to Constance on the back of the carriage, all these things would have been more thrilling, made more sense and made it a 10 My final point was I liked a lot about the styling but it was pretty dark and grey continually, all these things I say because I've seen four versions of the story, I loved the chemistry of the love interests and I enjoyed so much of this adaptation that it got my writer head going on these things that just fell short for me.

Pearl (2022)

So close....

[7/10 · 23 March 2023]

I wish they saw these films as thrillers rather then schlock horrors, then I think we might have had some exceptional films to enjoy, instead it's like watching Hitchcock direct Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and I'd rather watch the other two be themselves.

What's great? Mia Goth, the production design, the concept. It's sense of humour, and Mia Goth:)

it's a descent into madness, or rather gradual acceptance through frustration and epic hissy fits, but there is no suspense, there is a wafer of a premise and and the script is as subtle as the icing on a cupcake, everything from the score to the look and texture smacks of hitchcockian melodrama, but though there is skill and art a plenty in this, it's just not at those lofty levels, no where near, it's a mouldy ham on the front step of a movie, as I say they want to make a slasher horror gore fest, but with a bit more hokey charm, some kitsch stylings, a funky sensibility, I wish they had given more depth and made a thriller, but that's just me, I just think they sell it short, and cheap, and there's plenty out there already doing that, it feels like it's close to being superb, but it's not, though it's also not false, I'm sure they made what they wanted to make, they're just missing a few beats and some depth to the script, beyond b movie tropes dressed in kooky frock, there's lots to like about both films if ultimately they fall short of greatness, and this just made me want to see a Hitchcock festival on the big screen, to be reminded of what greatness looks like, even when it sometimes was want to descend into b movie schlock itself.

Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody (2022)

I don't normally do this, but the songs

[9/10 · 1 January 2023]

I don't normally bother to write reviews, it's just not my style, but the people on here, saying wait to watch it on TV. Must be a little dead inside to my way of thinking.

This story of the iconic singer puts her voice front and centre, if you watch it in a theatre, how it gives those performances life and context and the genuinely mesmerising nature and audacious beauty of Whitney Houston's voice is worth the price of admission alone.

To watch it on the small screen would be a travesty, and given its recent history, it's strange how you forget how important she actually was, and how she deserves a biography of this type. Maybe that's because mainstream media is now awash with the cult of celebrity, everything is so immediate and throw away, but her voice is a visceral emotional bomb, it left me shattered, torn apart, I'd forgotten how permanent it is, was and should be, like a Pavarotti.

It's become de rigueur, ever since La vie en rose and Walk the line to take a few swings at the Oscars with biographies of musical stars.

This year, I loved Elvis, despite the Baz Luhrmann treatment, and this depiction, in truth, lacks a little bravura style, there's something about the direction that misses a few notes, but that may be partly due to the characters being too mixed up and complicated for the script to try to shed light on them in just over two hours, but I found Whitney Houston and the ensemble and dysfunction that surrounded her to be every bit as emotionally affecting as any I've seen in recent memory, which brings me back to the voice The Voice; oh, how I cried, it will live with me for a long time. A new years day is tomorrow and I'm going to revisit her songs to lift me through January. Bless your heart, Nippy peace to all xx.