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The Whale (2022)
A human story, for better or for worse.
This may be one of the biggest movies to make an impact for me. I'm not giving a generic overview as lots of reviewers are posting the synopsis. I'm taking a page out of Charlie's book and mentioning my honest take.
Charlie is not meant to be a sympathetic person. I think the point is he's just...human, and humans make mistakes and have flaws and are incredibly contradictory.
He's incredibly loving and empathetic, yet he left his wife and child without thinking how it'd affect them. He has incredible positive thinking, yet he thinks so negatively and destructively about himself.
He's not meant to be sympathetic, just human.
The film itself is incredible. I haven't cried like that over a movie in quite a while. The theme seems to me to be how brilliant people are and how incredulous it should be that Charlie believes that in the first place.
It was devastating to me to see the pizza delivery guy look at Charlie in that way. It's like he stopped seeing him as human as soon as he laid eyes on him. Up until that point he was checking in on him and offered his name. This was where Charlie believed for a little while that people might not be inherently good.
Brendan Fraser deserves the Oscar for this. No question. The acting of everyone else involved was top-notch too.
This Way Up (2019)
Hilarious and heartbreaking at the same time
I don't review often, but I feel it is warranted here. I heard about a new show that Aisling Bea was making a while back and assumed it would be yet another sitcom that a lot of comedians tend to try at some point in their careers, but this is so much better than that. It's a show that has a lot of heart and humour, but will also make you cry your eyes out.
I love Aisling Bea's humour and it definitely comes through in the show, but her character Aine uses humour as a way to deflect and almost keep people away. Aine is a great character as she is so relatable to people that are struggling to get through life. You feel for her, you laugh and cry with her, she's the most "human" character in a show I've seen in a long time. She resonates hugely with people I know in my own life.
The progression and the pacing is spot on, as it hints that Aine had some form of breakdown after it all got too much for her and then was admitted into rehab for stress and depression. It isn't until the final episode that you find out what actually happened, and it makes the reveal even more heartbreaking. This is way better than revealing it in the first episode in my opinion.
There are also other characters like her sister Shona and her partner, and this is another strength of the show, highlighting the importance of family and having someone to fall back on if you need help. Towards the end of the series, Aine's sister starts distancing herself and throwing her efforts into her work instead of keeping tabs on Aine, and it's at that point that Aine reaches out to more unsavoury characters instead for support.
I also want to mention the chemistry between all the actors, they just gelled insanely well with each other. Aine and Shona act like real life sisters and you can tell they have a lot of fun together.
All in all it is a great series and I sincerely hope it gets a second one, as I feel there is a lot of potential in these characters.
The Host (2013)
A truly awful film.
Words cannot describe my disdain for this film, it doesn't grasp me at all and I found myself CONSTANTLY checking my emails on my phone while my wife was watching the DVD. My wife is a massive fan of the book so she couldn't wait for it to come out on DVD, she said there isn't much different to the book and they did it really well, but I think she was just biased and determined to like it even if she really didn't.
I tried to get into this, the premise sounded good about an alien race taking over the human race, but as soon as the predictable romance aspect came along I just mentally switched off. This has been done to death, from Twilight, to Red Riding Hood, to Beastly, to all other American dramas that have teenagers. Predictable and boring as hell romance scenes. A hot girl sees a hot guy and they fall in love even though they shouldn't be together, and 13 year old girls fall for this crap every time.
Even the ending was drawn out, it took about half an hour for it to end and wrap things up in a neat little summary, with the narration taking FOREVER. Cannot fault this film enough, serious movie goers that hate Twilight and most teenage romance movies, STAY AWAY from this movie, it will just waste your time...
Grown Ups (2010)
I literally cannot find fault with this film, I still love watching it when I'm wanting something to cheer up.
I don't get all the hate, I love Adam Sandler's movies, apart from Jack and Jill and That's My Boy, didn't like those. But all other ones I love, ones like Big Daddy, Little Nicky and Mr Deeds, all the way up to The Longest Yard, Hotel Transylvania and Grown Ups. I still watch this movie just when I want to be cheered up.
The great thing about this movie is it is just for fun and laughter, there is no evil villain hoping to take over the world, no evil person making a clichéd evil laugh to the camera, it's just a group of friends and their wives having a fantastic weekend. That's why I love it, the only "villains" of this movie are some middle aged guys that they beat in a basketball game years ago and that never reaches anything but name calling.
All of the characters are likable and seem like one big family, the actors gel really well together and I love the ad lib scenes.
This will be a movie I will continue to watch years from now, and I fully intend to see Grown Ups 2 and I expect to love it as much as the first.
The World's End (2013)
Slow start, and BARELY any connection to the previous Cornetto films, but it is still very good.
Saw the Cornetto Trilogy at the Midnight screening on Thursday, lasted from 7:30pm until 2am, but loved every minute of it. It was my first movie marathon at the cinema and it didn't feel long at all. In the special introduction Edgar Wright asked the audience to applaud every "F" word in Shaun of the Dead, about 60% of the audience did it all, then before Hot Fuzz a member of staff came in telling everyone off because people complained, which was kind of a bummer on the night, but on topic...
The World's End is truly the biggest of the three films, not in terms of length but in terms of plot, budget, and cast. Most of the cast in this has either been in the previous two films, or has just joined for this one. I will admit it did have a slowish start, and I was thinking "Hmm I wonder if it will grab me any time soon." By maybe fifteen minutes in I was hooked, it was funny at the start, HILARIOUS by the end.
Plot was very weird but it worked, the cast gelled really well, even if Martin Freeman plays the character he always does "Worrysome goody-two shoes who is always anxious etc". There were some good plot twists and Simon Pegg and Nick Frost interacted beautifully as always.
There were only maybe 2 or 3 references to the other two Cornetto movies that I noticed, the "jumping over a hedge/fence" thing and then the FLEETING Cornetto reference within the final 2 minutes (a Cornetto wrapper flying past...) but apart from that the humour was still as great as the other ones.
Overall the movie is fantastic, the humour is still as sharp and witty as ever, the visual effects are great, acting is brilliant. Took a while for me to get into at the start and like I said I would have liked more reference to the other movies, but it never ruined the enjoyment for me once I was engrossed. Definitely getting the "Cornetto Trilogy" box set, which I'm presuming will be out around Christmas.
Once Upon a Time (2011)
Don't understand the hype of this show...
My wife watches this, which means I have to watch this. I can only give it a 3 due to it actually being borderline watchable if my wife puts it on, but beyond that, it's boring and predictable. There are much better shows out there to engross people, not this drivel. I find all the characters annoying and the dramatic pauses are so frustrating. Not to mention plot lines are drawn out so much. I'm only padding this review out enough so it will get me the minimal 10 lines of text that I must do.
There is maybe one good actor that I am fond of, and that is the Scottish guy playing Rumpelstiltskin, I find his scenes watchable and I like his acting.
Man of Steel (2013)
Not as great as I hoped it would be.
Don't get me wrong, I LONG for a Justice League movie, and lots of other DC movies, but this one took me a long time to get into.
The pacing was very bad at the start. One minute we were enjoying a fantastic look at Krypton, he is then sent to Earth where my wife and I were hoping we would see the Kents discover him. Nope, it jumps to him at the age of 33, with a couple of flashback scenes which were done well. First he was on a fishing boat, next a waiter, then he ended up in the Arctic or wherever it was, then BAM, met his father, got his costume which was conveniently left on a random ship, met Lois and saved her life. Then she fell in love with him instantly and became his stalker. Happened too fast, like they were rushing all of that to get to the BIG battles at the end.
The character of Lois Lane in this movie did not hold my interest at ALL. In the comics she is supposed to be very pretty but in my opinion Amy Adams was such a bad move, not to mention she is almost 40 years old, while Henry Cavill is only 30, too much of an age gap when they could have had someone better play Lois. Amy just looked like she had the flu for the entirety of filming, pale and wrinkles with a pained expression like she had just broken her hip. Which is weird considering she is only 38. Not old at all. I genuinely didn't care if Lois died or not, she didn't manage to convey she actually loved Clark, she only seemed to get obsessed with him by stalking him down.
Henry Cavill did very well in my opinion. One thing that kinda freaked me out is how he was so pale in a lot of shots. Same with Lois, not sure if it was a director's decision to make everybody pale or if it was just the lighting while filming, but oh well.
He did do very well but I did miss the natural charisma of Superman. The Golden Boy in Blue attitude that makes him appear like he can do no wrong in the eyes of the public, yes this is only the origin story, but he didn't seem to have the charisma he does in other media variations of him. That is what sets him apart from other Justice League members like Batman, he is naturally charismatic and is seen as the typical idea of what a superhero should be. An all around good person who doesn't have a bad bone in his body. It is hinted at the end with his discussions with the military though so it's not gone entirely. I don't think it would have been a good idea to have a Superman that doesn't talk or smile.
Quite a lot of the actors had such a wooden performance. Russell Crowe seemed like he just did it for the cheque, his face moved once during the whole movie and that was when he died.
Also, the fight scenes, SO GODDAMN LOUD! Not sure if it was just our movie theatre but my god it was loud, I had to cover my ears for a lot of it and started to get a headache. I did enjoy them and they were done brilliantly, but turn down the damn volume. I'm only 20 but I felt like shouting to the projectionist to quieten it down.
Overall, the movie could have been better, you don't see Clark Kent news reporter, you don't see a Fortress of Solitude (a ship isn't the damn Fortress I don't care what you say), you see barely any connection with him and Lois Lane, you really don't care about any of the characters. The good parts? Visually it is absolutely flawless. Up there with the Avengers and Thor.
Oh by the way, Jonathan Kent died standing still in a tornado after saving a dog, because Supes wasn't allowed to save him? Yet he doesn't mind saving a bus of kids and letting his dad die. No. Not accepting that. Nonsense.
If you are committed to Superman and DC in general, go see it. But don't fully expect to like it. There didn't seem to be real, believable human interaction in this, if at the end, everyone died but Superman, I would just think, "Ah right OK, oh well.". I WISH I could have loved this movie, I very rarely dislike a movie, and I absolutely love everything DC, but I have to say, I like the animated DC movies more.
Anger Management (2012)
Charlie Sheen tries his best, but ultimately it falls flat for the most part.
It's no way the best sitcom, and the acting is left a lot to be desired. Charlie Sheen plays yet another guy called Charlie who is a ladies man, but the difference THIS time is he is a disgraced baseball player and has an ex wife and a daughter, who in the first episode has OCD then miraculously it is never mentioned again.
It is VERY weird writing this because I do actually watch this every week, hoping the acting gets better, hoping the story lines get better. In reality the truth is it's pretty bad. The woman who plays Charlie's ex wife is TERRIBLE at acting, she has had so much botox she cannot move her face, she is portraying the character to be a bit of a flirt but it just makes her seem like an emotionless whore. All of her lines are delivered flat and it makes her scenes unwatchable, which is unfortunate because I enjoy Charlie's acting.
All characters in the "group" are unlikeable and generic, you have the whore, the gay guy, the bigoted old guy and the weirdo who you wonder why he is there in the first place.
As for Selma Blair's character, she is meant to appear cold, attractive and desirable, like the sister in Cruel Intentions, but she is just a plain bitch who isn't attractive at all.
The truth is I probably will watch the rest of the season for Mr Sheen, but the story lines aren't enjoyable at all and I mostly end up skipping a lot of episodes within the first ten minutes if I know it's just gonna be generic and mindless. If you followed Charlie over from when he left Two and a Half Men, chances are you are committed enough to watch at least one episode, but I doubt you will stay for the whole season.
The Avengers (2012)
All in all, one of the best films I've seen in a while.
Cannot find too much fault in this film, apart from maybe the fact you will need to have seen all previously related films, luckily I had seen Iron Man 1 and 2, Captain America and Thor, so I knew the back story from the get-go.
I feel all of the characters were given enough screen time, I would have maybe liked to see Thor a bit more, I think he was underused, he could have done a lot more with his massive power, like killing one of those massive lizard things on his own, the character of the Hulk was brilliantly well played by Mark Ruffalo, he portrayed Banner as a very calm and collected man and very laid back which is needed for him, it created a newfound interest in the character for me, as I was never a great fan of the Hulk. As always Robert Downey Jr did a fantastic job of Iron Man, with the majority of the film's funny lines coming from him.
Chris Hemsworth borough back the mighty Thor and did so tremendously, like I said I think he could have been used a lot more, the Black Widow was also a nice addition, even though she had appeared previously in Iron Man 2, (although the tight leather outfit was a bit distracting lol.) I found it incredibly hard to stop looking at her behind, but luckily I was wearing 3D glasses in the dark so nobody could tell.
Hawkeye was really well played, for some reason the actor looks a LOT like Gerard Butler to me, I don't know why. But regardless he is a great character and I found it very funny when he asked Iron Man for a lift up to a roof of a building, and Tony Stark replied "Ok hang on then Legolas". Little funny lines like that made the entire cinema laugh a lot.
The humour of the film mainly came from Iron Man/Tony Stark, also quite a lot of funny moments came from Bruce Banner/The Hulk. I was a bit confused as to why he can suddenly control the Hulk, when he completely lost control on the ship earlier on. There were deep and meaningful thoughts about Bruce's alter ego, but there was a lot of humour to be had from the Hulk as well, (particularly when he smashes Loki on the ground again and again).
One small annoyance I had was the continuity on the level of strength and toughness each character had. In the film Thor, he was made to look like the most powerful being ever, with one whack sending big ice men flying 50 feet in the air, but in this film he only whacks them back about ten feet, which is exactly the same distance Captain America and Iron Man can hit (which it shows in the fight scene involving the three of them). It's just an annoyance of mine but I found it hard to figure out which one of them had the most strength, fair enough Steve Rogers is a super soldier but Thor is a demigod, you would think he would have a lot more more strength in comparison, one second a whack from Thor's Hammer can knock the Hulk ten feet away, but it doesn't even leave a scratch on Captain America's shield? And yes I know the shield is made with some indestructible material mentioned in the Cap film, but the Hulk is quite tough too and he got knocked away completely.
I also kinda wished they fought directly next to each other more, you never see all of them at the exact same place, they're always scattered about and you never get the feeling they are a full team, throughout the film I was waiting for some epic bit where all 5 of them pulled off some unique combo that involved all of them, but the most I got was two or three of them in the same place in the final battle.
But all in all, the film is brilliantly well done, action scenes are engrossing and genuinely frightful, you get some empathy for Bruce Banner, you genuinely worry about certain characters and I for one was thrilled with it, I was worrying it might be too many characters for one film but they nailed it.
The Woman in Black (2012)
A lot better than I expected.
This is my first review so be patient with me, I just have to say I thoroughly enjoyed this film, it turned out a lot better than I expected it to. Daniel Radcliffe's acting gets better and better with every film he appears in.
The location is absolutely fantastic, how the tide cuts off the house from the rest of the world and all that is left is the house and the surrounding garden. You truly believe it is a real place and the viewer is given a genuine believable excuse for the house being cut off, the tide is out which completely submerges the road away from the house, rather than being a completely unrealistic excuse like there is a massive wall that cuts off everything.
Daniel Radcliffe's acting could be better, but it is far from terrible, you really believe he is Arthur Kipps and not Harry Potter anymore. It is a brilliant thing that he is trying new things, I for one did not expect him to feature in a horror film as his first "post-Potter" film debut.
I really like how they never hid the Woman in Black, you see her directly in many occasions, instead of films such as the Blair With Project where you see NOTHING for an hour and a half.
The story behind the Woman in Black was a bit confusing for me, so many names were introduced so fast so it was hard to keep up, I got the general gist of the story and was pleased with the film's ending. You sense towards the end that the Woman in Black has not left and you will see her again before those credits roll. It was kind of 50/50 if Arthur's son would actually end up hurt but I don't believe it was done just for the sake of adding shock value.
I also liked the way for a small amount of time you believed that Arthur survived, but only a few seconds later it dawns on you that something feels wrong. From the others' reaction you weren't sure if he had survived or not until you saw the ever so slight visual change in the atmosphere, once Arthur was in "Limbo" it suddenly went darker and that was a nice, gentle realisation of the situation.