blackledgec Reviews

Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (2017)

The Point of No Return

[2/10 · 18 December 2017]

2 years of anticipation for one of the worst wild goose chases in cinema history. The burning and seemingly important questions raised in TFA, thrown off the edge of a cliff like some history enriched relic light saber. The so-called mysteries of TFA that saved the day in a re-hashed storytelling of another new hope, all gone to an unsatisfying conclusive graveyard.

Killing Snoke so early on though for me was the biggest flaw of the film. Good against evil films are nothing without a rock solid villain, preferably one that lives to near the end of the film.

Kylo Ren is still a clueless kid and needs more time to develop into the new supreme leader of the first order and with Snoke dead so early on is a bit like Anikin taking over from Sideous at the end of Revenge of the Sith. With so many key characters gone in this movie, it left me feeling lost. I think it has left the franchise lost too. I bet George Lucus is thinking, "See, I told you the prequels weren't that bad. E9, whatever it is going to be called, has to perform a miracle in order to save SW from extinction.

So many people are hating TLJ, myself included. I came away from watching it, not caring what happens next. People have invested time and energy in the anticipation of this saga and RJ has let us down on a biblical scale.

There were a few enjoyable scenes in this movie but they were completely overshadowed by a lack of care in the story line. The questions we had after watching TFA just ridiculed as "not important anymore". GL shouldn't have sold out to Disney. TLJ has done more damage than any previous SW film ever did.

Yep, it should've permanently stopped at Return of the Jedi.

Enter the Void (2009)

Big Big WoW!!!

[10/10 · 11 February 2013]

I have come to realise that this film isn't for everyone. People will either love it or hate it. The opening credits are horrible with the whole strobing look going on. However one mustn't be fooled by this as a sign that the film will irritate throughout. Gasper, in my view is nothing short of being a cinematic genius. The concept alone is worthy of labelling him as such.

It is unique, a one off. Sure there have been films done in the past of a person's spirit "letting go" experience (Ghost & Sixth Sense spring to mind straight away). But this is the first film that I've watched where it feels incredibly real and in some ways coldly realistic. Where ghost tries to pull at the heart strings, enter the void makes you think. It makes you think about the harsh everyday world that we live in.

Hollywood is nowhere to be seen in this film. Sure there's a "it turned out OK in the end", ending. But the journey to get there was a stark one. I myself prefer this approach. The bird's eye view won't be for everyone and neither will it's semi-non linear story line. Some people will dislike the sex scenes and the rather less pleasant characters. Some will even have a problem with the length of the film. But being a Kubrick fan allows me to relish in this sort of film. It is an early 21st Century masterpiece. As Space Odyssey was a 20th Century masterpiece. Neither film was to be a commercial success, but both are in my blu-ray collection.

It would be fair to say I love Enter the Void. I will watch it again and again. Some of the best films ever made can only oddly be described as fascinating. This is one of those films.

The Divide (2011)

It's deeper than you'd think.

[8/10 · 29 March 2012]

Well, The Divide... As an apocalyptic film, I feel I have to put it up there with Threads and The Road sub-category. It is NOT a Mad Max style of apocalyptic film (which some would say was more entertaining).

I watched this film last night and I'm still thinking about it now the next day, so it's bleakness does hit you somewhat, providing you're in the right mood for such a film.

The film is mostly set in a basement, giving a real feeling of entrapment throughout the film. If I could make any similarities with any other films, I guess it would have to be Signs and Lord of the Flies.... Signs being a film in which I didn't enjoy. The Divide however is a fair amount more believable, with a better cast and whose characters are more interesting. The story itself is less sensational than that of signs, which in turn, doesn't annoy the viewer into thinking there could be a better story outside of these character's scenario.

This film in fact goes beyond being a tragedy. It gives a glimpse of a living hell. It is a devastatingly bleak movie, made all the more tragic when there are characters who are "nice people" caught up in the madness of a few. This film is very much about humans and how they cope in extreme situations.... The way they divide into separate groups etc etc.

It's fair to say, there are many films that tackle this issue, but The Divide just seems to hit more of a nerve for me. The backdrop is always there, eating away at all of the characters... which in turn hits home on just how bad surviving a nuclear war would be. By the end of the film there is only ever one conclusion. (I don't like putting in spoilers, so I'll leave it at that).

The Social Network (2010)

Need to be in the right mood to watch

[6/10 · 7 February 2011]

Well just finished watching this film and didn't really click with it that well. It could have been a lot more fascinating than it was. The casting was good (but not great), the scripting was, as you would expect with mentions of web programming terminology, server hardware and general geeky use of language, but I guess I just wasn't in the right mood for it. It only really picked up when Timberlake's character steps in. The comedy aspect of the film was pretty average and the lead character did come across as a little too 2 dimensional for my liking. All in all not in my top 5 or top 10. It won't make me want to watch a film about the founders of twitter or my space, if anyone writes a script for them too. But in fairness, it wasn't the worst film I've ever seen. It just didn't keep me that interested. Maybe it's a grower.

Never Let Me Go (2010)

Bleak and upsetting... but worth a watch.

[8/10 · 6 February 2011]

Watched this film last night as film 4 were involved in making it. Wasn't quite sure what I was expecting. In some ways a good thing and in some ways a bad thing. It's kind of like an actuality of the island film concept.

Rather than rapid stem cell to adult growth, the clones are born as babies into a semi-closed institution, where they are given a boarding school childhood but without any loving parents to go to in the weekends. The film starts off in the 1970's, adding to the feasibility of the plot. When they get a new teacher arriving at the school, the main plot of the story is revealed. We find out that the children are clones and that they are to be used as organ donors for their original selves. Unlike the island, these poor things have nowhere to turn to, as their lives progress into young adulthood and can never break from the system that has predetermined their fates.

Only one, almost insignificant, glimmer of hope to be saved, arrives during the film. However the film doesn't spend much time with such optimism and the 2 remaining main character's hopes are dashed.

There is a current of impending doom throughout the whole film, that stirs a heap of emotions, that left me feeling flat, sad and generally uncomfortable. A main focus of hope is taken away from the film quite early on and so you're left watching it all as a morbid voyeur, waiting for them to die.

And because the film starts during their childhood, the film's ending literally hurts from an emotional perspective. It has a real life outcome that many people would want to avoid watching. So yes, as it did me, it'll upset some people.

The bad guys in this film are society along with the brains behind the institution in which the film is set. The good guys die for them, which makes it all the more bleak when watching.

In the end you are left with just their experiences during their relatively short lives. Who had the happiest life e.t.c. Its a film that will linger for some. You'll have to make up your own mind on whether that's a good thing or not.

Black Swan (2010)

Big Wow

[10/10 · 21 January 2011]

Watched this film last night after a bit of a debate with myself about the ballet aspect of the film, as I'm not a big fan of ballet. However I have to say, that aspect of the film is actually a very nice backdrop to this story. I guess ballet in the real world would require a lot of mental energy, so straight away the film has a believable quality about it. Top that with incredible acting, you're cooking up a great film already.

The obvious stand out star of this film is Portman. I think her dedication to this role is unprecedented. She looks unhealthily thin and looks like a typical ballerina from New York (I guess). Then there's the dancing itself, which also (as a non-expert) looks very believable. I can only imagine the amount of hours she put into training for this role.

However the stand out stuff for me was her evil stuff. The stuff she sees in the mirror is pretty scary. She pulls it off and it contrasts her timid white swan side brilliantly. I can see movie directors wanting her to play bad girls at a future date. This is her best acting recorded so far.

The actual film itself to me at least, reminded me of a few other films such as Eyes Wide Shut and Vanilla Sky. Eyes Wide Shut for the arrangement and Vanilla Sky for it's twisted movements. Doesn't sound too logical but like I say, it's what sprung to my mind personally after watching it.

I think if Cubrick could've directed this, I don't think it would have been that different. So that is my compliment to the director. An outstanding piece of cinematography.

The Next Three Days (2010)

Really Really Good

[9/10 · 2 December 2010]

All I can say is... Big Wow. Boy did I enjoy this film. The story-line is a cross between The Fugitive and a human heist plot movie. There were moments where I genuinely really didn't know which way the story would end. Has to be one of the best, if not the best film I've seen this year.

I just had to watch right through to the end. The only down side, were the roles of the 2 main cops. I'm not sure if 2 real cops would be as persistent. But I guess if they weren't, then the film would be a fair bit shorter.

I can't think of any other bad things about it, as it does what it is supposed to do, make you care about the characters and keep you gripped till the end. All in all very entertaining.

Definitely worth watching.

7 Days (2010)

Not Bad, but not great either

[6/10 · 3 October 2010]

As far as revenge films go, this one is quite good. However it's not brilliant. As with a lot of films with an "out for revenge" plot line. It doesn't stir up the anger that a story of this kind should. The father daughter relationship exposure is incredibly minimal, which to me, defeats the whole point of the story. Because of this, I was left quite desensitised to the main character's quest for revenge. Not even the smugness of the killer leaving court or the scene where they find his daughter's dead body was enough to stir up any amount of anger to approve of what happens next.

Sure I was on the main character's side, but the beginning was not enough for me to will his actions or even justify them. This in turn left me feeling a bit too much of an observer, given the seriousness of the subject matter of this film. By the end of it, the main character to me might as well have been jigsaw, which is a shame, as it clearly isn't meant to come across as such.

Collapse (II) (2009)

A dose of nasty tasting medicine

[10/10 · 3 October 2010]

The best documentary I've ever seen, Never got boring and sets the impending alarm bells off. What he talks of could effects 99% of the human race.... and all within a lifetime.

The truth does hurt and ignorance is bliss. But ultimately people should know the likeliness of truth. Capitalism is the main culprit in all of this, as well as laziness, wastefulness of resources and an overpopulation. It won't be the end of the world, it will be the end of us, as we are now. A lot of people will struggle, way more than they do now.

He ain't a prophet as some will suggest, he's just thinking for himself and coming to the conclusion he has. His points are valid and I admire anyone who can stand up and shout from the rooftop, of the stuff people/companies/governments brush under the carpet.

Even if his time-lines are inaccurate, I don't think people should disregard his claims and regard him as a crackpot. What he says in this astonishing interview is weighing up a likely outcome that will effect virtually everyone on this planet.