wbafan-41401 Reviews

Alice in Borderland (2020– )

Best series I have watched in years

[9/10 · 16 April 2024]

Firstly, this is only 2 series long (16 episodes) providing they don't do anymore, so it won't take much of your time if it isn't your thing.

Alice in Borderlands is a Japanese offering is of the fantasy genre. As the name suggests, it does have similarities with Alice in Wonderland but is a completely different set up. And if you have read the book, you may recognise some of the characters or a twist on events but that is where the similarities end.

It can be quite gruesome at times with graphic injuries, death and plenty of fighting. But it ha a very good storyline, with each episode having its own subtext, but they all fit together nicely. And unlike many series which are out there, the end of season 2 gives the viewer closure, with a slight option to make a doubtful 3rd series.

I'm not that much into fantasy films or series myself normally but I am so glad I gave it a go.

I don't want to give any spoilers whatsoever, but the story is about a bunch of people who do not know each other who awake in a completely empty Tokyo. And that is where the fun begins. I think it has something for everybody.

Incontrol (2017)

Really enjoyed this... But

[8/10 · 30 March 2024]

I came across this film advertised as a cross between 'Looper" and Inception. I also saw its rating, and despite being on the low side, both these films are my cup of tea so gave it a go.

And do you know what. I really enjoyed it. The premise was interesting, the acting definately above average and it was a well made film So why does this not hit the mark whilst Inception and Looper did? Both these films had closure, as simple as that. Despite their budget, I thought this film was potentially up there. But for me this felt like it was only the first third of a very good film. I was watching it, wondering where it was going next in the middle part of the film and then boom.... It's all over. Questions which were just about being asked received no answer whatsoever. Such a shame. Who? Why? What? Still don't know. I would love this to be the beginning of a trilogy personally but because of a twist at the end, I can't see this being the case.

Time Loop (2019)

Great idea(s) - but poorly executed

[4/10 · 13 March 2024]

The first thing I am compelled to say is that if you don't have a 'thing' for Time travel and Time Paradox films then do not bother to watch this.

The second is most people who enjoy this genre look upon 'TimeCrimes' as being the best version out there. One of the only positives about this film, and it is a huge positive, is that this film is more similar to the Time crimes story line than any other film of its type. And that is a big positive but that is where the similarities end. When I talk about the similarities, I talk about the way that the idea Time Paradoxes are used. That will be enough to keep most fans of this genre engaged as the storyline is not terrible. But whilst TimeCrimes is relatively easy to keep track of the different timelines, Timeloop I found too difficult. And difficult can also be good, as in Primer, but this was just overly complicated for little satisfaction.

I did enjoy that the film was set in a quaint Italian village and the scenary is beautiful But the acting is poor. It is so poor it is difficult to watch at times. Undoubtedly this film, like many others of its type has been done on a budget. There are only 3 significant actors throughout the film, and maybe 3 others who have a very short dialogue. Unfortunately none seem able to act which makes it a difficult watch In films like this, the ending is so important. You either need to see the paradox somehow closed or see that it can never be closed. Unfortunately, this story does neither properly and ends upon a note that the director probably thought was amusing. I cannot understand why as there was no other amusing moments throughout the film at all.

Bluff (2022)

Gritty and quite realistic.

[8/10 · 6 December 2023]

I came across this film by accident. The story is about a policeman, Detective Sargeant Danny Miller (Danny) who goes undercover in an attempt to discover how the drug scene works in a certain area.

He starts off slow at first, befriending other local addicts who introduce him to local dealers. Danny is after more than this however, and manages to gain the trust of one of the bigger dealers.

At this point, things start to go downhill. Danny has had to 'cross the line' to gain peoples trust. And its a slippery slope. So it becomes a battle about the law, morals and betrayal.

What is good about the film is the small intricacies that make this film seem very real. The acting is mixed, ranging from excellent to quite poor depending on the character. But this does not negatively impact the film.

I don't know if there is any truth to this story, but the director either has experience of the underground street dealing that most don't witness or he has had a lot of help with research.

The film almost feels as though its been made with a personal passion. The director understands why people take drugs, sells drugs and the impact pil8ce are having on the 'war on drugs'.

Rise of the Footsoldier: Vengeance (2023)

A different edge to the series.

[6/10 · 29 November 2023]

No doubt about it. Professionally wise this was a better made film in many aspects. For starters tge ambience was darker, like a good old gangster film should be. It still contained some old faces, even a surprise towards the end, but the film was again centered around Pat Tate (Craig Fairbrass) who in fairness has maintained his same character from the start, and is no different in this film.

But being honest, I did miss Craig Rolfe and Tony Tucker. Despite their characters being nasty pieces of work they bought a comedic side in a positive way which I liked. But I also liked this version as well although not in the same vain.

The fims still contains aspects of the seedier parts of life that helped made the franchise popular. And Craig Fairbrass spilled an adequate amount of blood, and as the film suggests took vengeance out on his enemies.

As usual, like in the other films, the timeline doesn't seem to fit comfortably with the rest of the franchise. Not that it matters. If you haven't watched the others, you won't know and if you have you are more than used to it.

The one thing I will say, is that although all the other films were highly exaggerated, I do believe they were often based on rumours or stories from all the characters life. Although Vengeance is a good film, I don't think it is actually close to real events. But it is a good story, and is not at all centred around the Essex murders at all.

Robbie Williams (2023)

Interesting but so self absorbed it's sad.

[6/10 · 9 November 2023]

I grew up in the 'Take that' and the 'Robbie Williams' era and although not their biggest fans I secretly admit to having enjoyed most of the music they dished out. And I have always had a passing interest in Robbie's life, not being able to understand why he seems so troubled.

And the problem with this series is I haven't learned anything new about him. He suffers from depression and he certainly wants us to remember that in this series Money and fame are not the cure to this, at least for Robbie. Having the normality of a family does not seem to have helped him to heal him either.

I don't want to be too hard on him for the above reasons, but he has released this series, and just like he is a musician, I am somebody who has spent 20 years writing honest reviews on here.

The series I'd basically Robbie looking back through his career. For starters, he could have done this in an office somewhere, dressed in appropriate clothing, but no. The whole series was with him sat on his bed in his underwear. Now, I'm a man so don't have a woman's perspective, but it's not a good look. It's a deliberately pretentious way of him 'showing himself off', as he would see it, and maybe it might have worked 30 years ago. But talk about growing old disgracefully.

And the rest of the series is basically old unseen footage of Robbie being miserable about how he has been treated by the press, him being full of nerves before his concert and how he us both comfortable in the UK. In many ways the same type of character as Prince Harry. The main difference is that Harry has had little control in his life until recently whereas Robbie has made all his own choices.

At the end we do get a bit of respite with him talking for all of 2 minutes that his life now is so much better as he now has his wife and four kids. But I don't think that's why he did this documentary. I don't even think he did it for his fans whom he doesn't seem at all grateful for. I doubt he even needed the money. What he did need was to feed his ego, to get us all to understand how hard he had it. The main problem is that it is hard to understand somebody who is unhappy at having the type of life that to many would seem the dream.

Depression is very real and destroys lives. I don't want people thinking I don't understand that, I certainly do. But for so many years now, Robbie has had full autonomy of his life. He has the means for the best of help whilst others have no support whatsoever. Despite his recent happiness with his family and situation, he still has the need to continuously tell us how hard he has had it.

Hunger (II) (2023)

Left me feeling uneasy - which is good???

[8/10 · 12 April 2023]

I was shocked after watching this film. Obviously the film on the surface is about cooking, kitchens etc, and then on the next level down it becomes about greed, snobbery and privilege. How far are we willing to go to get what we want and what is meaning of it all?

But there is another level to this movie which left me feeling sick to my stomach. And it's not because of blood or gore. It is more to do with the way that the whole world is going, in a biblical sense the worshipping of false idols that in the end prove to be wrong. The way that we are being led by our greed and jealousy, into a place that is as far from reality as you can get.

But thankfully the film does pull it around in the end and gives mankind a glimmer of hope.

Wild Bill (2011)

One of my old favourites of this genre

[8/10 · 21 February 2023]

You have to love Wild Bill. Came out at a time when similar films were about, portraying the UK inner London gangster culture.

But Wild Bill is somehow one cut above the rest. This is mainly down to some excellent acting from the young actors. But also a very good, if short, story line, and just about the right amount of realism mixed in with a bit of fantasy And as its title suggests, in a way it is like a modern day English Western. Bill, our protagonist is without doubt a floored character. He has been in prison for goid reasons for 8 years. We meet him as he is returning from Prison, and having been in the system for so long, he has no solid plans for the future. But he is a likable if flawed man. He decides that he will check up on his family on the way to trying to gey work on oil rigs. Problem is, his family is not coping as well as they should be and to make matters worse, there are other parts of Bill's past waiting to catch up.

But throughout the film, Bill tries to do the right thing by everyone. But like all classic westerns, the film builds up to a final proverbial 'shoot-out at the ok corale'. And unlike other films of this genre, it does become quite emotional. You feel for Bill from not long after the film starts.

The Good Nurse (2022)

Shocking true life drama

[8/10 · 28 October 2022]

I watched this film not knowing it was based on a true story. When I read that at the end, it was the icing on the cake for a very good film.

Very quickly summed up, excellent acting and direction. I felt the emotion of many of the characters. It really was a good piece of work.

But the biggest thing I took away from this is how much the USA treat their medical industry like a financial institution. Money coming before the welfare of citizens in this day and age is just wrong. The UK has the NHS and I'm not deluded to believe that people don't make money from it, or that there have not been any cover ups to avoid compensation claims or accountability. But in the NHS now there is a growing accountability/ blame culture which makes what happens in this film more difficult. But in America, where every hospital is its own profit making entity, every hospital has its own lawyers, bills are so expensive and compensation claims are so high, I wonder how many serious incidents happen each year and are covered up. And these hospitals putting medical staff under threat of losing their job if they report to the police due to confidentiality, ridiculous. Things may have changed somewhat since this happened but I doubt it. In the UK we have many systems in place, such as safeguarding procedures and there is always somebody to report concerns to. Its not perfect, and people can slip through the net. But the holes in the net are getting smaller each year making it very difficult for people who are sacked for misconduct to get a job in the sector again. Being from the UK and in the industry, the difference between medical practices in the two country is likely chalk and cheese.

So yes, a very good netflix special. Worth watching.

Smile (V) (2022)

Very disapointed - If you have seen the advert you have seen the film.

[4/10 · 2 October 2022]

With it coming up to Halloween, and having seen the adverts/ previews many times, I was quite looking forward to this film.

This film has been made before but in the form of 'It follows'. The difference being I enjoyed 'It follows' and maybe just the thought of watching something similar was enough to make this film seem worse than it actually was. I don't know and maybe never will as I won't be rushing to watch it again.

What I do know is that if you want to be shocked or horrified, you have to have missed the adverts for the film. They literally put all of the 'seat jumping' bits in the adverts so there was so little left to shock me. Combine this with the storyline that resembled 'It follows' so much, it was like I had seen it before. So you get to the end of the film hoping they may have satisfactorily rounded it off. But no. Maybe a bit of where, but no real how and why.

Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022)

Left wondering whether this was a good film or not.

[6/10 · 25 September 2022]

I have been writing reviews on here now for 20+ years. I've been watching films for 45 years, and whilst I know my own tastes, I am now having trouble rating films as parts which were novel 20 years ago are over exploited or ignored today, and the younger folks tastes often differ to my own. I do have a teenager though who can give me her opinion as well as my own.

But back to this film. Without being at all homophobic the opening scene involved two young ladies playing 'tonsil hockey' with each other. Now this happens in a lot of films, but in this case was extremely graphic and went on for ages. And there was no need for it because the next 10 minutes went onto explain that these girls were a relatively new couple, and everybody knows that this happens with new couples. It wasn't pornographic at all, it wast sensual, it was just a bit 'gross'. And that's why I opened up with my first paragraph as maybe younger people would see it differently. But from my eyes, there was no need for it. Pointless.

And that's the trouble with this film, a lot of it is a bit 'pointless'. The genre is horror, murder mystery, slash and contains limited gore which actually wasn't over the top. And if you got rid of the 'pointless' bits, it may have been a pretty decent film. Although you would have to call it a tv show, because as it is it was a short film (less than 90 minutes before creduts). But it had a decent story line, decent acting for this type on film, and a very satisfying ending. And that's the important bit. Because throughout the film I was worried that it was impossible to tie this film up to a satisfactory conclusion, and I would have wasted 90 minutes of my life. But that definitely was not the case. I enjoyed ir. I just wish the director would use different styles of padding.