stevenrossiter171 Reviews

X (II) (2022)

Standard and rather tedious. Mia Goth saves it

[4/10 · 6 January 2023]

So a bunch of actors/actresses go to a deserted farmhouse to make a porn film.

None of the characters are likeable with the exception of perhaps the cameraman who gets done dirty by his church mouse girlfriend

Essentially it is boring until the last half hour when everything begins to go wrong and the slaughtering happens. The main characters in this are the old weary sexual Pearl and her husband. She just basically wants to be had by anyone and the husband is trying to protect her

There's not really much more to it than that, some of the kills are foreshadowed and the best one involves a crocodile

Not great. Thank god that Mia Goth is in it and at least makes it watchable.

Men (2022)

Mind bending ride

[6/10 · 6 January 2023]

Jessie Buckley plays a lady who feels guilt for the death of her husband after an argument that slowly plays out during the process of the story.

She stays in a village away from the world and ends up being surrounded by men of different types all played fantastically by Rory Kinnear

The imagery and story at times is unsettling and the ending of the film is bizarre to say the least. There is a running theme of the Green Man and nature and rebirth, old traditions against new.

And men in all their forms mainly bad

Don't really get the end of the film at all, it's a little too twisted for me. I have a rough idea on what it means but that's about it

Man vaginas and strange rebirths that link back to the central story of her husband killing himself

It's passable and odd enough to keep things interesting.

Terrifier 2 (2022)

Overlong bloated and it's just about the gore

[6/10 · 24 December 2022]

So where to start. Art is alive, regenerated, talking to a zombie girl who dresses like him with glowing eyes (giving the creepiest scene in the film) and decides to go after a family who have some sort of supernatural connection to him.

Positives - the three main actors are great, entertaining, believable and superb. They make this film a 6 rather than much much lower

Negatives - Leone really needs a script editor, the story is bloated, there are at least an hour of unnecessary boring scenes and they add nothing to the main tale.

The runtime is absurd, the finale and the final battle should be 10 minutes but ends up being 35 at least. Not sure why.

Art is sadistic and vicious and some of the kills are just brutal for brutality sake. Yes the death of the friend character is gory but I didn't buy into it, it was too much for a side character and just seemed over the top

All in all Terrifier as a series has a good enough villain although Art is in danger of just being a psychotic Terminator baddie who just doesn't die. But the first and second films suffer from being all about the gore. The hype has not done any good.

Gore alone isn't enough for a movie of any size.

Disappointed by this film and not really sure what the point would be of more of the same with a threeequel.

Terrifier (2016)

Hide and seek slasher with exceptional gore

[6/10 · 22 December 2022]

A rather simple story of a psychopath who dresses as a clown, with supernatural powers of recovery who simply decides to butcher a pair of women out celebrating Halloween. In doing so, others are also killed and dispatched in gruesome ways.

The positives first, Art the Clown, suitably creepy but also provides a few laughs when you're not expecting them. He's a vicious demented unrelenting killer. And he's absolutely brilliantly played by Thornton, by far the best thing in the film.

The practical effects are impressive and each murder is gruesome. No out of shot murders or killing-lites here. It's great to see practical effects used The length of the film is good and keeps the pace rolling

Now the downside The acting outside of Art is awful, second rate nonsense.

The look of the film is more like a Hallmark Horror than a proper film.

The characters are stupid in the way only horror victims are The story is hide and seek... It goes - scared person sees art, art hunts for them, art disappears, fake scare then art appears out of nowhere. For the whole film.

Overall it's a simple but enjoyable movie, very heavy on gore but worth a watch for Art more than anything. A new horror icon I suspect!

The Amazing Maurice (2022)

Family film with plenty of smiles and laughs

[7/10 · 17 December 2022]

Really nice film with lots of good voice acting and the story is a nice one that rattles on nicely. Full of twists and turns and ups and downs.

Hugh Laurie is great, Emilia clarke is the star of the show but all of the vocal work is good

Terry Pratchetts story so obviously discworld plays a part and Death shows up as you would expect. If you enjoy discworld you'll love it and to be fair even if you're not, it's a great film to watch with the kids. I watched it with two 12 year old boys and a 6 year old boy and they all enjoyed it

They all enjoyed it and put it in the 7/8 out of 10

Enjoyed.

Poker Face (2022)

Not quite up to scratch but good enough

[6/10 · 16 December 2022]

Basically a tale of brotherhood between childhood friends which then takes a few twists and turns but not as many as you may be expecting

Paint by the numbers style film which has its moments of tension towards the end but never quite seems to furfill it's promise

It's well directed and all rather a lot more spiritual and ponderous that you are probably expecting too but that's the fault of the trailer. In truth this is a much more wordy film and has a lot more depth regarding mortality and morality.

The "baddies" are a mixed bunch and are always on the back foot which makes them a very tame threat.

All in all it's fine.

Without Remorse (II) (2021)

Atypical Clancy

[5/10 · 9 December 2022]

It's a mess of a film, with actually an incredibly simple plot which borrows heavily from numerous mission impossible films. The acting isn't great either which is a bit surprising

It's the old start a war with a rival country to unify the people against a common enemy routine. Which also means when Guy Pierce turns up, you know instantly who the bad guy is

Paint by numbers, the odd unshocking revelation and that's that. A few bizarre choices too, not sure why the main character was left alive. Very strange considering the first gun run out of bullets

Enough action in it, good fight scenes but otherwise blah.

The People We Hate at the Wedding (2022)

Stereotypical and unfunny

[1/10 · 9 December 2022]

About as amusing as contracting the Black Death

It's really really badly written and not funny. Also incredibly stereotypical of England, bloody awful.

The acting sucks, the story is unbelievably predictable and just trash. The accents are awful and not like real life in the slightest, downtown abbey if it was written as a really bawdy comedy

Wow we have written something daring because we curse a bit, and that passes for funny.

Words cannot contain how bloody awful this film is. Oh and Alison Janney as a mum who just loves taking pot...dear god

It's incredibly to write this review in 600 characters

It sucks... that's it.

Halloween Ends (2022)

An abomination

[1/10 · 17 November 2022]

The most boring horror film I have ever watched, at times felt more like the loves of the Strodes than a horror movie

Corey is uninteresting and a pretty boring anatagostic. His change to being "evil" is like a really bad 80s film, he's on a motorbike now looking mean...so now he's evil...seriously it's like it was written by someone with absolutely no sense of suspense or decent writing ability

Alyson is beyond annoying with her teenage like whining and moronic behaviour

Even Laurie feels like an annoyance, there's not enough Michael Myers who is really just a cameo in this and the kills are a complete letdown

As a trilogy, this is a fitting end to a complete disappointment. Poorly conceived and written and with only the first film being any good

Yes Michael dies but because he's not even the main anatagonist in the film, it feels cheap and tacked on

Awful, awful, awful....

The Secrets We Keep (I) (2020)

Wrong format

[4/10 · 17 November 2022]

A story about a Romanian woman who is sexually assaulted by a group of nazi soldiers at the end of World War 2. She has moved on and married an American doctor, had a child and moved away however she believes she has seen her tormentor and goes on to kidnap him in the hopes of getting him to confess or killing him

As you would expect he denies he is the one, she believes him to be and it then turns into multiple wordy two handed dialogues between the doctor and captive, captive and wife and wife and doctor.

The film ends with him confessing and the doctor shooting him dead. Leaving the final scene showing an emotionally distance wife and a broken doctor

It's a play let's be honest, it would work better as this. The acting is overwrought, the drama is non existent as it's obvious he is who she thinks he is and at no stage are you convinced otherwise

Really truly shouldn't be a film. Staggeringly boring too.

Black Adam (2022)

A rarity. A very good DC film!

[8/10 · 29 October 2022]

Teth Adam is the champion of Kandaq, the oldest society on Earth. Having been imprisoned for letting his rage free and massacring a king and his entire court, he is freed when a historian searching for a mystical crown (that gifts it's wearer the powers of hell) is cornered by the villain and their mercenaries. He is the last descendent of the former king. Destined to wear the crown and bring hell to earth.

Ok. Now that's out of the way, the Justice Society who rush to capture Teth, are good and entertaining. Although we lose Doctor Fate in a surprisingly emotional sacrifice to save his best friend Hawkman.

It's Dwayne Johnson's film, he is superb and a great antihero. The fight scenes are also superb and you feel every hit

The story is very good too as Teth (Black) becomes the protector of a land he failed 5000 years ago

The downside...well for a start the female lead is awful, whiny and makes the stupidest decisions possible. Giving the crown to the bad guy...yeah..

Join that with the skateboarding son who is also full on annoying. Also has to be said he cannot act at all

The positioning of the mum and son as major players is a serious misstep. Everytime they are on screen the movie starts to suck..everytime

Overall it's a good film and worth a watch but it's definitely all for Black Adam and the Justice Society.

Orphan: First Kill (2022)

Perfectly fine

[7/10 · 26 October 2022]

The first thing to say is this is very much a one person show. Esther is a brilliantly portrayed character and drives the whole story forward.

The actual story itself reveals its twist two thirds through and then kind of loses its way briefly before coming back strong in its finale.

The film isn't greatly gory although the violence in the kills In most cases is as brutal as Michael Myers at his finest

The running time of the film is perfect. Short enough to not overstay its welcome and long enough to keep you entertained

I think go in knowing as little as you can so that the final act has the required surprise.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022)

Doctor Strange as you'd expect

[8/10 · 23 October 2022]

The film is good, passes the time extremely well and moves the MCU universe on

The main leads are all good. Scarlet witch is an understandable yet considerably nasty villain of the piece

If anything there isn't quite enough action interplay between Doctor Strange and Scarlet although they do talk a lot..

Enjoyed it. Good horror elements too

Just don't expect the movie to be too much of a break from MCU fare. It still follows the standard formulae of the regular movies. Doctor Strange is one of the more interesting characters left in the MCU currently so his character is a key reason for the success of the film.

See How They Run (2022)

Clever funny and a well written mystery

[9/10 · 16 September 2022]

No spoilers here! But I can say it's a continually funny story with wonderful moments of humour and puns. The two detective leads are good, Rockwell more at the end when his drunken stupors ease (my only complaint, please make a detective a sober one for a change with no issues)

The mystery itself is incredibly well put together and loops all the elements of the film into one narrative. The motives are believable and the cleverness of the script tie everything into the Mousetrap without actually giving away the ending of said play.

Definitely worth a watch and if they decide to repeat this with the same character leads in a sequel (ala Knives Out) I would be right there for it.

Prey (I) (2022)

Overhyped and rather flat

[5/10 · 13 September 2022]

The first hour of the film is incredibly tedious going under the guise of setting up characters which fall into incredibly stereotypical traits

The lead is has no charisma whatsoever and instead just appears bratty

The action does step up in its final act and that at least gives it something to by, albeit it is a very one sided final fight.

Nowhere near as good as the original or sequel and actually not even as good as Predators

Disappointing and rather flat overall with very little to go for it other than a good period setting

Also at times way way too dark to even see what the heck is going on.

Three Thousand Years of Longing (2022)

A beautiful story encapsulated in stunning visuals

[9/10 · 5 September 2022]

Without giving away too much, the film plays as a story within a story and has a wonderful charm and warmth to it. Much due to the credit of the two main actors.

The visuals are arresting and beautiful and the story winds away like a beautiful song dancing on the breeze

The setting is mainly in one or two locations but this works well and it adds more to the stories that are told and interwoven

Thoroughly enjoyed, very well written and emotionally touching. Thoughtful and intelligent

Very highly recommended and I would say benefits from being shown in the cinema where you can really make the most of the visual splendours.

Beast (I) (2022)

Starts well then....

[5/10 · 1 September 2022]

The first half hour is well done, well written with good developed characters and a thought out plot. Sadly after a moment in a crocodile filled lake and a dramatic incident with a van, it all goes rather sadly south.

Genuinely funny in places that it wasn't designed to be and with a lion version of the Terminator, the plot slowly gets stupider.

Bizarrely though the actual final conflict is cleverly thought out and well done

Copley deserves better and Elba is good if not slightly wandering in his accent

A pity: but to be honest not up to much

And as a final thought, since when did lions start taking shortcuts??

Thor: Love and Thunder (2022)

Just a fun movie

[8/10 · 18 July 2022]

I know substance wise this may be short of a lot of it's fellow marvel films but it's quite nice to just disengage the brain, have a laugh and enjoy the story. Christian Bale is superb and by far one of the best villains of the whole MCU and the rest of the cast are great as usual

To me Bale is why this is an 8 and not a 7. Worth it just for Gorr and his journey

Go see it and just enjoy it after the weight of No Way Home and Multiverse of Madness, this is just what was needed.

Interstellar (2014)

A masterpiece

[9/10 · 17 June 2022]

Beautifully acted and emotionally moving, several gut punches which you really feel. The plot for what it is almost takes a second place to the story of human spirit and exploration irrespective of the personal cost.

Matthew McConuaughey is utterly superb and the beating heart of the whole film. You feel every battle he has to overcome

Loved it.

Bull (2021)

Clint Eastwood Classic Western meets Dead Man Shoes

[8/10 · 14 May 2022]

Very enjoyable revenge thriller, mysterious and although you roughly know where's its headed, it's a good short journey to it

The acting is magnificent and the final five minutes of anything darker than you'd think it was

But delighted to see a father/son revenge/ghost story which doesn't bottle it at the end and sticks with people getting exactly what they deserve.

In the Earth (2021)

What the...

[4/10 · 10 May 2022]

Well it seems a basic enough storyline and actually although it's very slow paced, it seems to pack In a few both pagan and modern day ideals

The last ten minutes though.... Dear god what an incoherent mess. I think I understand but I'm not entirely sure

Acting is good, gore isn't actually bad unless you don't like feet violence!

Don't feel I would watch it again.

The Batman (2022)

Simply superb. A proper representation of the Bat and others

[10/10 · 23 April 2022]

Just a superb film. All the characters are honestly portrayed and acted fantastically

As a Batman fan for 40 years, finally a film that captures everything about him and all the characters in his world

Loved it.

No Time to Die (2021)

A good Final entry in the Craig series

[8/10 · 18 March 2022]

Well it's a long film but doesn't sag too much and actually motors along at a good pace. The leads are great, Ana nearly steals it with her minuscule appearance and the action scenes are tremendous. Even the dialogue and script is a notch above.

In the negatives, the villain just isn't very villainous and spends a very small amount of time on screen. His motivations don't seem to be very settled either. Revenge to genocide..

The ending is going to be debated for a long time and to be fair it makes sense in the context of having the Daniel Craig Bonds as it's own series of Bonds, it's own universe if you will, otherwise it really doesn't

Overall very good and goes down as a close third in the best of the Craig's. Casino Royale and Skyfall still better it. Also despite his superb acting, he looks a little too old for this one. Best time to bow out credibly.

The King's Man (2021)

A good prequel

[7/10 · 17 February 2022]

The fight scenes, acting and general script are very well written. The pace of the fights themselves are impressively fast and throw in a few curve balls that you don't see coming and it's a solid film.

The trench fight and some of the deaths are very brutal

Certificate probably given for the above and the over abundance of F words

A little slow at times and a little meandering between the action but it's a good addition to a good series of films.

Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City (2021)

Some good, some bad

[6/10 · 8 January 2022]

The only comparison that I can use is the two video games which this was set from. RE1 and RE2

Start with the good. The Redfields and Wesker are well portrayed and after the second half of the film is very good. Jill and Leon actually become more rounded characters than the paper thin annoyances they are at the start.

Set design is superb and the amount of RE game material is very impressive. The police station, the mansion, fights etc

Now the bad. The CGI is extremely poor which isn't good for a film that relies on moments of it for importance. The dialogue between the characters before the action gets going is just complete tripe.

Jill and Leon are idiots for the first half of the film

The film also relies way too much on characters behaving like idiots. Oh there's a major emergency so rather than stay alert, I'm going to play snake on my phone and unsurprisingly get jumped and killed. This happens way too often in the first half. Leon especially so.

All in all, the film is good enough. It rattles along and where it portrays the world of Resident Evil right, it does it really right. The major problem is if the best parts are linked to the games. Why not just play the games??