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The Pale Blue Eye (2022)
Slow paced thriller is well worth a watch
Hercule Poirot, Batman, Sherlock Holmes and now of course, Benoit Blanc. Some of the great detectives of all time. Does Christian Bale's Augustus Landor join them? Not quite, but that doesn't mean he isn't an interesting character. Landor, a man troubled by the death of his wife and the seeming disappearance of his daughter, is summoned by West Point Academy, to solve the murder of a cadet at the Academy. Displeased with the information available, he enlists the help of a young Edgar Allan Poe, played by Harry Melling, who has certainly come a long way from playing Dudley Dursley in the Harry Potter series. Bale and Melling's talents are fully on display here. Both of them really disappear into their respective roles and honestly, are the most enjoyable parts of the movie. They are what makes it worth watching. Their riveting performances, the pretty visuals and the well written dialogue are the main reasons to check this movie out. The specific storyline isn't great however. This is one of those movies with an ending that makes you think it's over, but the movie continues on for a half hour afterward resolving further issues that we weren't really wondering about during the runtime. With that being said, it manages to remain intriguing despite it being overlong. Another somewhat hindrance is that the plot feels very linear and this movie doesn't do much to differentiate itself from others like it. This is probably the movie's biggest flaw. Although all the shots are in focus, although all the actors turned up, although the premise is unique and interesting, this movie isn't easily accessible. It's slow paced and takes a while to get into motion. If you stay patient and keep invested, you will be rewarded with an actually quite clever plot twist that I at least, didn't see coming. Despite the twists and premise being unique at times it can feel like a gothic take on Rian Johnson's Knives Out, with several similarities between the two being present. All in all though, if you're a fan of the genre or want to see two actors at the very top of their game in Bale and Melling, then I'd definitely put this on your Netflix watchlist.
Final Verdict:
Two excellent performances save a fairly standard Murder Mystery movie, worth watching for Bale and Melling alone
Overall rating:
7/10
71/100.
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022)
A beautiful and ambitious epic
Black Panther Wakanda Forever is a fitting and touching tribute to Chadwick Boseman. You can tell that they purposely dialled down the usual MCU humour to give this movie the somber tone it needed. The memorial scenes at the beginning and ending of the movie are handled very well. They are respectful of his legacy and poignant. And although the beating heart of the first movie in Boseman isn't there, Letitia Wright still manages to pull off a rousing and impressive performance, stepping into Chadwick's shoes and taking up the mantle of The Black Panther. Another superb performance inside of this movie is Angela Basset as Queen Ramonda. With her scenes at the UN and the throne room being highlights. Tenoch Huerta is also very good as Namor. Who although is different from the comics is very interesting as a character. Another bright spot in the movie is the visuals. Coogler really nailed it here. There are many simply breathtaking shots especially in the underwater scenes and Wakandan scenes. Another strength is the side characters. Riri Williams played by Dominique Thorne is fun when on screen and it made me more excited for her Disney + show. As always, Winston Duke's M'Baku was very cool. And Martin Freeman returns again as Everett Ross and although he has a minor part to play in the movie's story, he is still enjoyable. Despite all these positives the movie definitely isn't perfect. It is overlong and perhaps too light on action (although when there is action it is done very well), the movie sometimes feels too slow-paced and it potentially could have devoted more of it's runtime to paying respect to Chadwick Boseman. Another odd thing I noticed was the designs of some of the characters and costumes. Some of them feel slightly derivative at times. Especially Namor's people, who look a lot like the people from Avatar. Which was especially funny since the cinema I watched it at played trailers for Way of the Water before the movie started. Another odd thing that I noticed was Ironheart's suit. It looks more like the Red Power Ranger suit or Samus's suit then a Iron Man style suit, with that being said though, it was nice to see some Iron Man style action again.
All in all, I really liked this movie and thought it was a fitting tribute to Boseman.
I'll give it an 8/10.
The Curse of Bridge Hollow (2022)
Mediocre but entertaining Holiday Movie
The Curse of Bridge Hollow is very similar to a lot of recent Netflix originals. In the sense that isn't exactly a well written or well made movie, but it does provide some entertainment for an hour and a half. Although it is mostly entertaining and there are a few funny jokes here and there, the movie is one that relies on far too many Pop-Culture references. At times it seems the movie goes out of its way to hit the viewer over the head with a string of pretty unnecessary and outdated lines or costumes with multiple references to popular characters like Cruella De Vil and Spider-Gwen. Another time a teenage girl references Tik Tok, stating that she plans to upload a video later on. It's stuff like this that unfortunately frequently distracts the viewer from the movie's plot. It is also very obvious that stuff like this was included because the writers thought that teenagers would find it relatable. In reality however, in a few years all of these references will have passed their use-by date and inherently that will make the movie feel out of touch. Another distracting thing about the movie is a way some of the Action sequences are shot. In some scenes, the camera is very shaky and unfocused and it's hard to make sense of what is actually taking place. This pulls the viewer out of the experience and makes it harder to enjoy it. Another mediocre aspect of this movie is the acting. It isn't very good in some parts and most of the cast is either too wooden, or they are over-acting.
With that being said, if you're into movies of this type and are looking for a fun Halloween movie with plenty of mild scares and occasionally funny jokes, then The Curse of Bridge Hollow might be for you.
Overall Rating: 5/10
Would I recommend?
Only if you like light-hearted family movies like this one.
Suicide Squad (2016)
A Guilty Pleasure
I just want to start by saying this is not a good movie. It's loosely tied together by random plot threads that feel like they were crafted by a studio rather than one director's vision. And that's because this was a movie basically made by the studio! I am very disappointed that more people don't bring light to David Ayer's story. I feel for him because his vision for the movie was completely butchered by the greedy studio that is the WB. They wanted a movie similar to Deadpool which earlier that year had great critical and box office success. So in order to do this, they removed a heap of scenes (most notably with Jared Leto's Joker), binned off the score and instead put in tons of Pop music as the soundtrack and clumsily forced together the rest of the scenes left over together to make an incoherent mess. This is so evident that the only scenes of character development in the entire movie is in this montage at the start of the movie. That aside, I still find this really fun to watch, Margot Robbie and Will Smith are great in their roles and this is definitely a guilty pleasure movie for me. I can't say it's that great though.
She-Hulk: Attorney at Law: Just Jen (2022)
Hard to see where the show goes from here
6 episodes into She-Hulk and we still have almost no clue where the underlying story will go. This episode was sort of frustrating to me, as it doesn't do anything to further the narrative of the show and just focuses on something as meaningless as a wedding of her friend from High School? That didn't make sense to me, neither did bringing back Titania as it seemed as though she already overcame that threat in a previous episode. Speaking of, Titania is a pretty below-par MCU villain, as she poses barely any threat and is inherently written to be an over the top and ridiculous character. This makes her pretty laughable really, and it doesn't build any tension and all the fights with her in it are a bit lame, as we know She-Hulk is going to win easily. Back to the narrative of the season, so far, it's been very irritating. All the episodes set up plot threads, but don't follow them up at all. They all choose to tell small, self-contained stories which is fine for one or two episodes, but shouldn't make up a whole series of television. There does have to be some overarching narrative that your series builds up to! And so far with She-Hulk we haven't seen that. This episode has just been a continuation of this. Just another small, relatively boring episode of television that doesn't add anything, or further the plot of the series. I'm worried that they won't be able to wrap up the show effectively in the final few episodes. Hopefully they won't mess up Daredevil at least.
(And seeing the guy that plays Rafe's drug-dealer friend on OBX as a DJ was kinda funny)
The Devil All the Time (2020)
Grim, Dreary film is unnerving and hard to watch
The Devil All The Time, on paper a interesting sounding film with a great cast, an intriguing premise, but in reality, a film that very much failed to live up to my expectations. The Story is uneven and hard to follow due to it's unnecessary Non-Linear nature. The characters are hard to like, not because they are devoid of arcs, development, or clear motivations, but because many are cruel intentioned, and nearly all commit despicable acts. Even Arvin (Tom Holland), who spends the majority of the second half of the film insisting he did no wrong (which from a certain point of view may not be incorrect) does awful things, whether justified or not. Willard (Bill Skarsgaard), starts the film as a good man and we want to see him succeed, but it's hard to root for him, when he is so blinded by his faith and his determination to do anything to save his wife. Both of these actors are excellent in their roles, but their characters are both very unnerving and at times shocking. Many other Actors such as Robert Pattinson, Sebastian Stan and Harry Melling, all are brilliantly creepy in their parts, and are one of the main selling points of the film. If you are a fan of any of these actors' work, then I cannot recommend this film to you enough, because all of them are great and single-handedly make the film watchable. The acting isn't the only positive, the cinematography is incredible, and you can see a lot of time and thought went into it. The atmosphere is delightfully grim, but at times it can make the film tedious because of it's seemingly slow-pace. With that said, the film was never boring for me. It truly had enough twists and surprises to keep my attention but it does also feel like sometimes they try and and make certain scenes more over the top then necessary, just to shock the viewer with how gory and dark the film is. Some scenes are indeed uncomfortable because of their nature. These include, Pattinson's character seducing a young woman, multiple brutal shootings, multiple suicide scenes and a crucification at the start of the film, with a deep foreboding tone hanging over the film all the while. All of these scenes and more are genuinely hard to watch and it succeeds in making the viewer feel a sense of dread. So of course, this isn't one for the faint-hearted.
So overall I would recommend this film if you like any of the actors I have mentioned in this review, (as they all turn in remarkable and unforgettable performances) dark, grounded, unforgiving narratives, appreciate great cinematography and if you can stomach the gore, violence and dark themes. However, the story is disjointed, the characters can be hard to relate to or to like, some of the violence is unnecessary and only there for shock-value, the film is slow-paced and at times tedious, and the film is extremely unforgiving in its portrayal of violence.
Consensus/TLDR
Watch if you like the cast and films with deep themes and dark tone, avoid if you aren't interested in any of these things or you dislike gratuitous and uncomfortable violence.
I Am Groot (2022)
Decent, Good Natured Fun
To be fully honest I don't think anyone was expecting much from this show, just for it to be a bit of fun and that's what it was. Just half an hour of entertaining Groot hijinks. I watched this with my little brother and he absolutely loved it so if you have younger siblings or children of your own then I would recommend you watch this as it's surprisingly a lot of fun and it only takes 30 or so minutes of your time.
Episode Ratings/10
Groot's First Steps: 6/10
The Little Guy: 8/10
Groot takes a bath: 7/10
Groot's Pursuit: 6/10
Magnum Opus: 8/10
(My personal favourite was Magnum Opus)
The End of the F***ing World: Episode #1.2 (2017)
Not bad, not special, suffers from the same problems as the first
I found the second episode of this series worse than the the first. Not to say it was bad, it just wasn't all that great either. I found the plot for the episode less entertaining and once again, the characters weren't fully engaging and interesting enough for me. In this episode there are multiple times where things just seemed too convenient. At least most of the jokes landed and the storyline was progressed.
The End of the F***ing World: Episode #1.1 (2017)
Decent Enough introduction to the two leads
The first episode of this series I found mostly enjoyable. It was paced well and it succeeded at its attempts to make me laugh. The one gripe with this episode is that the acting and delivery of some lines were a bit boring at times. For the most part, a decent start to the series.
Dunkirk (2017)
Immersive, thrilling, epic.
Where do I even start, this movie is just amazing. The cinematography, the score, the visuals, are all amazing. The sound design is amazing. I could go on for ages about how much I enjoyed this movie.
Sure, the characters may not be compelling, especially when compared to some of Nolan's previous work, but I still wanted to seem the succeed. Even though I already knew Dunkirk was a successful operation I felt nervous, tense, desperately hoping these men would make it out alive. When a movie, in particularly one based on a true story makes you feel that, you know it's great.
As I already mentioned, this movie's score is incredible, I felt like I was there on the beach with Tommy and Alex as they desperately tried to survive, I felt like I was in the air with Farrier, shooting down planes, I felt like I was on the boat with Mr Dawson and Peter, saving lives. The score truly immersed me, and put me in the shoes of the characters. I felt what they were feeling. Anxiety, fear, confusion. The score elevates these characters immensely. Without it, the movie would not be this good.
It almost goes without saying, but the visuals are spectacular. They're simple, understated, not very colourful, but that's what makes it so good. It truly creates the feeling of dread and peril that these men are experiencing.
All of this and more makes Dunkirk a great movie. I cannot recommend this enough to anyone who enjoys Christopher Nolan movies or war movies.
9/10.
Call of Duty: WWII (2017)
Solid entry to the COD franchise
Campaign: 9/10, incredibly underrated, stunning visuals, great main character, immersive gameplay.
Multiplayer: 6/10, gameplay is fine, map design could be better, way too many micro transactions.
I enjoy this game a lot, it's campaign is graphically stunning with some incredible action sequences. This game is let down by its average at best multiplayer. The micro transaction system is unnecessary and way too prevalent. The map design can be generic and the storyline in the campaign can at times feel overly linear and simple but for me, it doesn't detract my enjoyment too much. I'll give this an 8/10.
Call of Duty: Ghosts (2013)
AdVaNcEd DoG mOdElS
Campaign: 3.5/10, Forgettable characters and storyline, no clear motivations for the villain
Multiplayer: 2/10, high TTK, overly large maps
This game is a disaster. It was a huge step back for COD, from its overly hyped 'next Gen' capabilities (Advanced dog models) to its bland campaign, anyone who calls this game underrated is kidding themselves. It just failed to live up to expectations and consumer demand, for that reason, I'll give it a 3/10. I will say the visuals look nice though.
Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore (2022)
An improvement on the second film
I thoroughly enjoyed this film. I thought it was far better than the previous film in this franchise because it was more coherent and easier to understand. The crimes of Grindelwald collapsed under the absurd amount of characters and sideplots, a hindrance this film doesn't suffer from. The cast is excellent and I particularly liked the dynamic between Newt and His brother. Jude Law is great as a younger Dumbledore and we find out more about him and his mysterious family. Mikkelsen is in my eyes, a better Grindelwald than Depp by far. However this film isn't perfect and suffers some of the same issues as it's predecessors. It doesn't explain some elements well and on first viewing it can be a little confusing. The premise can also feel slightly familiar as Grindelwald seems to be similar to both Magneto and Adolf Hitler as his rise to power mirrors both these people. Grindelwald shares similar views to both as he considers himself above others and has no qualms with harming others to get to where he wants. Even some of Grindelwald's henchman resemble The Nazi's elite secret force called the Gestapo. Other than this, I enjoyed it quite a lot and would recommend if you like Harry Potter. Definitely not for casuals though.
Home Sweet Home Alone (2021)
Goes for nostalgia and can't even nail that
Home alone is understandably a classic film. Who doesn't love the tail of the plucky Kevin McAllister who saves his home from burglars. The director of this film, obviously thought that and made this as nothing but a money making machine that uses the whole premise from the original but uses 'Nostalgia' as an excuse. There's taking elements from the original (like the force awakens and the last Jedi take from empire strikes back) and then there is just blatant copying. I wouldn't have a major problem with that however if they had actually got it right. This film is butchered from the beginning by changing the concept to make it so that the villains have a moral compass and have the right intentions. This in theory sounds good, but what it actually does is make us like the villains. Moreover, we want them to actually succeed. This therefore ruins the central aspect of the film as in the third act where we traditionally see the burglars get badly injured by the booby traps set by the hero we can't enjoy it or laugh, we know these people don't deserve it and that they are only trying to help their family. Even during the sequence multiple times they ask the kid to stop and say they just want to talk. The boy ignores them and keeps shooting pool balls at them. This also further reinforces to us that the so called hero is really rude and takes happiness from others misfortune (Unintentionally he was characterised this way). All in all, a misguided and immoral attempt to remake home alone.
Batman & Robin (1997)
Not everyone's cup of tea but still possible to enjoy it
I, like the majority of critics it seems, don't enjoy Joel Schumacher's campy and cartoony take on the caped crusader. I believe that this was definitely the wrong direction to take the character and in hindsight, it doesn't make any sense why he thought this would be a good idea but alas, Batman and Robin was made and so I am here to review it. Obviously it goes without saying that this is a bad film. An utter trainwreck from start to finish. That doesn't mean that it's impossible to take some enjoyment out of it but ultimately I think this film can be easily defined by it's opening sequence. It involves Batman (George Clooney) and Robin (Chris O'Donnell) going a mission to stop Mr Freeze from stealing a diamond from a museum. Harmless right? Wrong. Only Joel Schumacher could butcher something like that as what should be a standard but cool action sequence to open the film is turned into Batman and Robin Literally playing Ice Hockey against Henchman. Meanwhile, Arnold Schwarzenegger's Mr Freeze is doing his best to get the diamond which he needs to power his suit. Harmless right? Wrong once again. It is confusing to me why Joel Schumacher found it necessary to make Schwarzenegger to deliver 'funny' lines of dialogue that are awful and quite hard to hear. Surprisingly, Batman himself jumps on the pun train as he says to Robin 'You get the Ice, I'll get the Iceman.' Is it funny? No. Is it out of character? Yes. This whole sequence drags on for a while and sets the tone for the rest of the film. Genuinely though, I don't think any of the cast is exceptionally bad in this film. I think Clooney, Schwarzenegger, Thurman (Posion Ivy) and Silverstone (Batgirl) and Co all work fine for what Schumacher wanted from them but does it actually work for a Batman film? Again, the answer is a resounding no. With all that being said, this film actually has decent ideas as it borrows from the Mr Freeze Heart of Ice Comic run and introduces the idea of Robin growing unhappy at Batman for not trusting him. However, this and a confusing sideplot about Batgirl becoming a street racer to earn money for Alfred is bottled by Schumacher as in every case he puts his own spin on things and it results in unfunny cringeworthy dialogue and unfortunately, this how this film will be remembered.
Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002)
Worst Star Wars movie but still has entertainment value
I can safely say after watching this, this is the worst Star Wars film ever. The main problem in my eyes is Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen). The future dark lord of the Sith is reduced to a whiny hormonal teenager in this film. In fairness Christensen doesn't have much to work with here as this script is infamous for having cringey 'Romantic' dialogue. This is most present after Padme (Natalie Portman) seemingly falls in love with Anakin after he describes his hatred of sand to her. On top of this the plot feels disjointed to say the least, as we hop back and forth from Anakin and Padme's misadventures to Obi-Wan's (Ewan McGregor) time on Kamino. As Obi-Wan is an infinitely more interesting character this goes some way to diverting our attention from the intended leads in Anakin and Padme. This all leads us to the third act on the planet of Geonosis as the film reaches it's climax as the Rebublic's army of super soldiers knows as 'the clones' arrives and saves countless Jedi from being executed in an arena. From there we witness a lightsaber duel between Anakin, Obi-Wan, Yoda and Count Dooku. This is Arguably the only good part of the film. Eventually the droids are defeated and forced to retreat and the Jedi prevail. Overall not a bad film with definite entertainment value but a cringe romantic subplot and a uneven sequence makes for potentially a tough film to watch.
Adventure Time (2010)
Weird and slightly overrated show
As someone who has a younger brother who enjoys this show, I've seen my fair share of it to say the least. Similar to Rick and Morty in that it has weird humour. The difference being, Rick and Morty is actually funny. This show's plot is too fantastical for me and the only thing I like about it is the art style and animation. That being said I'm not the target audience so take this review with a pinch of salt.
Rick and Morty (2013)
Amazing TV show
Up there with some of the best TV shows ever in my opinion. Weird for some, but if you can get past that, I think it has some great themes and is surprisingly deep for a comedy.
Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021)
Fitting conclusion to Holland's Arc as Spiderman
Right off the bat, I must say I enjoyed this film a lot, but this doesn't change the numerous problems the first act of this film has. And quite honestly I'm surprised that not a lot of people have been talking about how weak the premise for the plot is. It involves Doctor Strange (one of the most responsible characters in the MCU) going through with an irresponsible and quite frankly stupid idea that Peter comes up with that causes various Spiderman villains arriving in their reality. The problem explains itself. Once I look past that, I see a excellent Spiderman film that delivers on so many levels for so many people. If you like Tobey and Andrew's Spiderman films than you have them appearing in this, if you like the idea of Tom's Spider-Man's love interest than you have him and Zendaya who have great chemistry on screen and give you a romance that you can buy into. If you like Doctor Strange and multiversal madness, then you have that, if you find Willem Dafoe's Green Goblin to be the best live action Spiderman villain than you have him making an appearance. As you can quite clearly see from those examples there is plenty of fan servicing elements and I honestly find it amazing they managed to put it all together and make a coherent story. Is it a great story? Not necessarily but it has nice moments and provides a great end to Holland's arc and even gives him a 'Uncle Ben moment' which in my opinion was one thing his Spiderman was missing.
The Batman (2022)
Excellent Comic book superhero movie with some minor flaws
As a huge Batman fan I was extremely excited for this film's release and I must say, I was not disappointed. The whole cast is brilliant and the score really adds to the tone of the movie. Gotham itself is arguably the best live action representation we have seen of the iconic fictional city. I also think Reeves absolutely nails the detective aspect of Batman which is exciting to me, as we haven't seen this side of the character in live action until now. The take on the riddler is fresh and original and far better than Jim Carrey's campy and over the top portrayal in Batman Forever. With all this being said there are some contrivances with this film. At times Batman appears to be near invincible, as he tanks gunshots multiple times throughout the movie (in fairness this can be debunked by the armoured nature of this batsuit). The whole third act can feel tacked on considering the film had reached it's climax before then. However, it does do a good job of characterising this Batman and setting up the sequel. This film is excellent, highly recommend for most Batman fans. If the 1966 tv series and Schumacher's Batman films are more your style however, I wouldn't feel pressured to watch as this film is intense and has the grittiest tone for any superhero movie I've seen.