Change Your Image
jonathan_crowe12
Reviews
1917 (2019)
If Saving Private Ryan is the best portrayal of WW2 then this is the best portrayal of WW1
This film is a very good watch but it is very intense so you need to be in the right mood and know what to expect. The main character is very well acted and is able to portray the emotions and strain of war. The film is one continuous shot which is very impressive. It also shows all the horrors of the war. One of the best scenes shows the soldiers going over the top as the character runs along the front line. One very small criticism is that the main character is shot at a lot but a lot of bullets miss him even though the German soldiers are quite close to him. The main character is able to shoot a German in a tower from quite a long distance. This is because the main character has to be put in danger but obviously he can't die before his mission is over or the film would be over. When his mission is done there is very little recognition for the main characters journey which adds to the realism as the commanding offices have a lot of other issues to deal with which adds to the realism. The music is very good and the film looks very realistic. There is one scene with a plane crash which is very well done. Overall, this film is a brilliant portrayal of World War 1. There are a lot of World War 2 films but not many World War 1 films so this helps to address that. It may be too graphic for schools but it could be shown to show how awful the conflict was.
Star Wars: Episode IX - The Rise of Skywalker (2019)
A lot happens but overall very good
I thought this film was very good. It answered all the questions set up in The Force Awakens, the acting was good, there was a lot references to the past films, the music was brilliant, Palpatine was menacing, the main characters had good chemistry, Rey and Kylo Renn's story has a good conclusion, there's were a few twists, the lightsaber fights weren't over the top like Episode 3 and it looked brilliant.
To me it seems that Disney realised that while some people like The Last Jedi, the majority of the audience and fans really hated it (probably when Solo did a lot worse financially than they expected). As a result, they basically told JJ Abrams to fix it and make a film full of fan service that pretty much deals with all of The Last Jedi criticisms and answers every lingering question. The best description I have seen is that The Rise Of Skywalker feels like a 4 hour movie squeezed in to 2 hours. In hindsight, Disney should have given JJ Abrams the whole trilogy so he would have been able to tell a consistent story. Some story arcs felt underdeveloped, such as stormtroopers turning good, and other parts felt shoehorned in to try and explain everything. Snoke is a good example. Originally it felt like he was going to be an original character with an interesting back story but now it's revealed that it was Palpatine all along. This only happened as Rian Johnson killed him off. He really should have been the main villain throughout as bringing back Palpatine lessens the impact of Vader sacrificing himself to kill Palpatine and save Luke. With Marvel, Disney plan quite far in advance but with Star Wars it felt like they made it up as they went along.
Overall, I think if they had split this film in to two films and got rid of The Last Jedi then the sequel trilogy could have been much better. The last scene is a very nice way to end the Skywalker saga though.
Terminator: Dark Fate (2019)
Very poor
Within the first 15 minutes you could tell this wasn't going to be good. It starts out well as they show Sarah's interview from T2 and then show Sarah and John at a bar by a beach. The de-aging looked incredible. Then they completely destroyed everything by killing John Connor when yet another Terminator turned up. It's like Alien 3 where the little girl that Ripley protected during the 2nd film dies in hyper sleep. You just think, "what was the point of the last film". After that, they just redo Terminator 1 and, as Hollywood does with every film now, John Connor gets replaced as the leader of the Resistance by a woman and Kyle Reese gets replaced by a woman. Executives think this is what people want now but we don't. Sarah says there were other Terminators sent back during T2 which brings up the questions of why they didn't work with the bad guy in T2. So many in fact that she's spend years hunting them all. From there, it's just over the top set pieces with them sitting around spouting exposition and story. The new characters are pretty forgettable as well. Most fans just wanted a war film with scenes similar to the war scenes shown in T1 and T2. If James Cameron had done that with a 3rd film around 1996/1997 then it would have been a perfect trilogy.
Spider-Man (2018)
Does for Spiderman what the Arkham games did for Batman
When this was announced everyone was cautiously excited. There have been some good superhero games over the years and some bad ones but Insomniac are a good developer so I think people trusted them. I think they exceeded everyone's expectations.
The story is original and very well told. Most casual fans had probably never heard of Mr Negative so it was nice to see a new villians that isn't one of the typical Sinister 6. The relationships Peter Parker has with his aunt, Miles and Doctor Octavius are believable and the voice acting is very good. You know what's coming with Octavius but when it happens you do feel emotional. Their final confrontation has emotional weight due to the great build up.
The gameplay is very good. If you liked the Batman Arkham games, you'll like this game as it is quite similar. Swinging around as Spiderman is probably the best part of the game as it's exactly how you imagined it would be if you were Spiderman. The gadgets are a nice addition as they add a different element and the different suits are good.
The only negative is the side crimes. I guess there are only so many crimes that Spiderman can tackle but after you do the same one a few times it can get a bit repetitive especially if you are trying to get the platinum trophy.
Overall, you can see how much work Insomniac put in to this game and how they must be comic book fans or they did their research. The villians are a nice updated version of the classic villians and this version of Peter Parker is different from Tom Holland, Tobey Maguire etc. There are a lot of cool easter eggs as well. If this does start a Marvel game universe just like Iron Man did with the films, this could he the start of something special if all of the games are of a similar quality.
Ad Astra (2019)
Boring
I was looking forward to this after the reviews in the newspapers were positive and Brad Pitt is a good actor. I thought it was disappointing. It is a realistic space film like The Martian or Interstellar but the realism makes it boring. The premise is interesting as Brad Pitt's dad goes on a mission to explore the solar system and try to find evidence of extraterrestrial life but something goes wrong and his dad's ship starts emitting waves of energy that disrupt the Earth and they say it could destroy the solar system. Brad Pitt has to go and find out what happened. The special effects are fantastic but overall the story is very slow and the answer to what happened to his father is a disappointment after the build up. A lot of the reviews say it is one of Brad Pitt's best performances but he seems bored most of the time. He was much better in the Ocean's films, Se7en and Troy. They show his wife a few times but she has zero character development and he doesn't even seem to like her, let alone be in love with her. Overall, it's a good watch if you have an interest in space but don't expect too much excitement.
Star Wars: Episode VIII - The Last Jedi (2017)
Overall a disappointment with some decent parts
Half of this film is terrible and adds nothing to the story and the other half isn't too bad. It feels as though Disney never really planned these films out but made it up as they went along. Apparently JJ Abrams had the story worked out in his head and gave Johnson his ideas but these were thrown away. The reason the MCU has done so well is that they plan something like the next 10 films.
There are some decent parts. Mark Hamill's performance is probably the best part of this film. In interviews he seems sad that they took the most optimistic guy who wouldn't give up on Darth Vader no matter what and ruined him. Now he tries to kill his nephew over sensing darkness. Luke teaching Rey about the Force and the Jedi is also very interesting and it feels like they could have explored that a lot more. They could have taken out the pointless side quest and spent more time on the island. Yoda appearing is a very good scene. The special effects are very good as well. The relationship between Kylo Renn and Rey is interesting. Snoke is a very interesting character and he seems to be wasted, a bit like Darth Maul. The throne room scene is great though. Adam Driver's acting is pretty decent.
The rest is either completely pointless or just terrible. The new character Rose is very annoying and the side quest she goes on with Finn is absolutely pointless and seems like filler. For some reason they decide to preach about slavery. Laura Dern's character keeps secrets for no reason and the fact that she can fly her ship through another ship just makes you ask why they didn't do that to the Death Stars. Some of Daisey Ridley's line delivery is very poor and seems like she's just reading off a script yet at other times her acting is good. Also, they set up some great questions in The Force Awakens but pretty much discarded them or answered them poorly. The forced comedy is terrible as well. Leia Poppins was probably the worst part of the film.
Overall, the fans were obviously disappointed which was shown by the Solo film doing poorly. If you compare they hype for Avengers: Endgame to the hype for The Rise Of Skywalker, you can see how poor this trilogy has been. They should have just hired JJ Abrams for the entire trilogy. Hopefully the 3rd film saves the trilogy.
Jack and the Beanstalk: The Real Story (2001)
One of my favourite films
I first watched this years ago on holiday from school. Years later I bought the DVD and at 28 still love it and have watched it so many times. The acting is good overall. Past Jack has some odd dialogue but Matthew Modine and Mia Sara have a great love story. Jack saying, "you were like a father to me, Zigi" seems really heartfelt from Jack. The music is very good. The story is a great idea and original. They don't explain everything so your imagination can fill in the blanks. The ending leaves you with a nice feeling. It is 3 hours so it is a bit of a commitment but I think it's worth it. The giant world is very beautiful. The only sad part is Attenborough looks quite ill. I think it may be his last ever acting roll.