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Reviews
The Portable Door (2023)
A movie of 2 Halves!
This is a somewhat contradictory movie.
Unusually, I chose to watch it on impulse, out of the blue, with no prior knowledge of what it was about, other than it had an intriguing title and a good cast.
From the first few minutes and on to about 45 minutes, the script, apparent plot, and acting successfully draw you in.
Everything is set up for The Portable Door to be some intriguing, mind binding, psychological, thought provoking film for adults.
You are being taken from the seemingly innocuous streets of London to witness what goes on behind the doors of a mysterious company run by people, Waltz and Neil, whose stated intent is the secret control of the masses, and to sell that ability to the highest bidders.
Burton's confusion but initial happiness in getting a strange job in this mysterious company is well portrayed, as is his discovery of his hitherto unknown 'other world' abilities.
It feels like a very dark, sci-fi, adult Alice in Wonderland equivalent, with The Portable Door being the entrance to anywhere possible, as per the rabbit hole.
Then, just as you sense this film can really take off into deep and intriguing mind games, something happens.
To me it suddenly changes direction, backs away from being grown up, and the second half goes completely the opposite, dumping all the careful build-up, the mystery, the intrigue, and the subtlety of leaving you wondering where is this going!
And for me that is why it seems the whole first half, of potentially a great attention grabbing movie, appears to be dumped in the bin.
It's as if halfway through making it, the director was told that the studio had now given permission for a good CGI budget to be available.
So now they had to spend it.
And that is why, the film suddenly changes from an interesting subtle mind drama to an all out, in your face, no mystery, flashes, bangs, wallops, villain chasing goodie with loads of odd other creatures hanging around kids fantasy movie.
So the last half hour or so is what you expect to see anywhere else, and therefore the end result is pretty obvious from way out, rather than being a last minute cliff-hangar.
I enjoyed the first half, but disappointed with the second half.
So much potential for a really intriguing film, and then it all reverts to a flash, bang, wallop, CGI action film, which chucks all the great acting of Waltz and Neill early on, out of the window.
IMPORTANT!!!
Right at the end of the last credits featuring all the CGI creators etc.., there is a clip of a final scene showing Burton, as the character Carpenter.
What happens in that scene is strangely a precise summary of what I have written above - so much potential, but at the end not much achieved.
So do watch right to the end.
It's a fitting summary added by the Director - very telling!
Genie (2023)
Just a remake with seemingly no credit for its predecessor!
No way is this film a Richard Curtis original concept.
The whole plot line and story is lifted from a 1990's film called Bernard and the Genie, which stars Rowan Atkinson and Lenny Henry.
Perhaps there is a nod to this film in amongst all the credits at the end, but as an original film, it is not.
Although much if the 1990's film looks somewhat 'creaky' 30 years on, without the slickness of the Genie production values, it is a better film.
As I say, Genie is such a plot lifter, that it is difficult to review it, when you know that so many aspects have been lifted.
Oh well, as they say, all films come down to just a handful of plot themes - the rest is just variation on that theme, and who can outdo who on the production and the acting.
However, Genie gets a big fat Zero for originality!
Reminiscence (2021)
A film with deeper meanings and thoughts.
On the surface, a futuristic film delving into the past.
However, the longer the film goes on, the more thought provoking it becomes.
Essentially, a film which provokes the philosophy about how the past can affect our future.
And whether we choose to stay embedded in the past desperately trying to revive the happier moments, or resolve the bad ones, or whether we allow the past to be a stepping stone to the future.
A fairly slow paced film, with uncertainty in the various romantic threads until all is resolved.
Poignant in most parts, with some beautiful cinematography, and some scenes that are evoking Blade Runner.
Initially, I thought that it might be boring, but if you have patience, the film draws you in.
Not an all action film, but one with deeper meanings about our lives, and what leads us all to our determination of "now"!
If you want all action, high speed chases - then No.
If you want to savour deeper meanings - then YES.
The versatile Hugh Jackman is very good, backed by Thandiwe Newton, and Rebecca Ferguson.
Glad I watched it, and had patience to get through the slow start.
Blue Lights (2023)
Brilliant and emotional police drama
This 6 part series has every single aspect well covered in order to produce a high quality, believable police drama set against a city with so much history - Belfast.
To me,this series resonant with all those intertwined and beloved characters from the classic Hill Street Blues.
Because these characters portray real people doing a very difficult and complex job.
Humour, sadness and poignancy are in every episode.
You'd have to be very immune to this portrayal of police life on the streets of Belfast, not to get hooked to watch all the episodes.
Actors, Sian Brooke as Grace, and Richard Dormer as "seen it all" Constable Gerry Cliff steal the show.
Dormer as the hard bitten but loveable response cop is excellent, and deserves an award for his performance.
In every scene you are simply drawn into everything he does, and within the 6 episodes you actually look forward to each moment he appears on screen.
A triumph of acting, and likewise for Sian Brooke who captures every moment of being a professional police officer, torn between her duties as a Mum.
Some 42 years on from the first Hill Street Blues, this matches it in so many ways.
A must watch!
Allelujah (2022)
A film spoilt by Government propaganda.
Interesting to note that HM Government featured in the credits for the making of this film!
And the ending shows that.
It was an OK film up until the last 3 minutes, and then the Covid drama and NHS propaganda kicks in.
This was all totally unnecessary to the film and the plot, and made the film seem something like a Government sponsored documentary.
Furthermore, it also made the film seem outdated because of the Covid references.
You cannot have a character, Dr Valentine, change his character so absurdly just to make a Government point.
Plus, if any one is responsible for deaths during Covid and the NHS handlings, it is, as has been now widely shown in the press, Matt Hancock.
Not the character in this film.
Would have been reasonably enjoyable, but for the ending.
I actually had more sympathy for the so called "villain" of the film, who realised that perhaps she was saving people from continued distress.
Whatever!
On second thoughts, I can't really recommend this film, as it is very clunky and gradually descends downwards despite the best efforts of the actors.
Living (2022)
Superb film that shows it's never too late in life to change! Oscar for Nighy?
A truly exceptional film.
Evocative, emotional and slowly revealing the truth that it's never too late in life to change, break free from self imposed handcuffs in your life, and to help others in some way.
The careful pace of the film is such that you are drawn into the life of Mr Williams (Bill Nighy), with all its restrictions, until the point you are quietly cheering him on as he makes the effort to break free from his predictable, humdrum existence.
This is film is so truthful in its portrayal of an immediate post WW2 Britain, and even now, as civil servants shift endless papers around endless departments in the hope that the documents will not rest in their in-trays.
Slowly, it peels back the inner thoughts of Mr Williams to reveal that a real human being exists beneath his unemotional exterior.
Wonderful Oscar performance from Nighy, and superb support from the rest of the cast.
A memorable lesson in life that it is never too late to change, and be the real you!
Marley & Me (2008)
Pet lovers will love it, otherwise perhaps not.
I've only just got round to watching this film, as it had always seemed to be something that was on the list, but never enough time or reason to watch it.
Now I'm glad that I've eventually watched it!
A family movie that has more touch of reality than so many other films of this type.
A simple story of how a dog, Marley, becomes the continuous, and progressively enhancing, glue in the relationship of Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston.
If you love pets you'll love this movie, all the way through the tears that will inevitably fall.
If you don't, then perhaps it won't work for you.
Just one surprise to me, I waited to see all the credits roll, and expected to see the names of the 3 dogs that played Marley, puppy, adult, and old, right up there amongst the cast's top names.
However, couldn't see any mention of these dogs, which after all are central to the whole film's plot.
Perhaps, I missed them, but would be interested to hear from anyone else, whether the dogs are named on the credits.
Shame if they are not, and pretty poor from the Director and cast to not have checked this!
Hopefully, they have been named somewhere?
The White Lotus (2021)
The Fawlty Towers of Hawaii
Armond, played by Murray Bartlett, resonates of Basil Fawlty, both in appearance and his hapless circumstances in his tragi-comedy world, where the hotel customers disturb his world and life would be so much better without them!
The setting is more exotic than Torquay, but the basis for the plot is the same, with the guests living their own tangled lives within Armond's crumbling empire.
Distinct characters some with happy endings, some with tragic, the series hooks you in, as each guest moves towards their final inevitable ending.
Dark in many ways, but with that thread of comedy prevailing throughout.
Murray Bartlett plays a true hero/villain, and as with his character, Armond, and as with Basil Fawlty, you are increasingly drawn to hoping he succeeds, but fate constantly works again him.
Very watchable, very enjoyable and an easy binge watch!
Free Guy (2021)
Worth sleeping through!
Why was this movie ever made?
A video wreck of a film!
Worth sleeping through, but each time I woke up it was still going.
Child like humour, and some fairly cardboard cut-out acting.
Sleep rating - 10/10
Awake rating 1/10
This film deserves an award - but for what it's hard to say!
Jodie Comer must be having nightmares that she ever accepted the part.
Probably lured by the chance of co-starring with Ryan Reynolds, and some big dollars.
The Debt (2010)
Great film - confusing casting
This is a truly gripping film with unforeseen twists and turns, right through to the final scenes.
Convincing storyline with the brooding darkness of hidden lies haunting the protagonists throughout their lives.
Very strong cast, and excellent performances all round.
One controversial point, which I think somewhat detracted from the believability of the film, was in the choice of casting.
I wouldn't change any of the chosen actors.
However, I would cast them differently as follows.
Early on you see Ciaran Hinds as the older David, and then you see Martin Csokas as the younger Stephan.
However, such is the convincing similarity of look between Hinds and Csokas, that initially I thought Csokas was the younger David, rather than the younger Stephan.
Also, it would have been better if Tom Wilkinson had played the older David, as there was more believability that Sam Worthington would have aged to look more like him, rather than Ciaran Hinds.
Also older DAVID had obviously grown noticeably in height from younger David.
You don't get taller as you age as an adult!
So that was the part of the film that jarred for me.
I think that when you have films that show a younger and then an older version of the same character, you have to cast actors that do have some believable similarities. Otherwise you spend a lot of the film asking yourself, "how did he or she end up looking like that".
So the combinations should have been Worthington and Wilkinson as David.
Csokas and Hinds as Stephan.
And those combinations could have played the parts perfectly and believably!
Nevertheless, an excellent film, with Chastain and Mirren totally believable as the younger/older version of their character, Rachel.
Crooked House (2017)
Great book, but the film is a crime scene! Plus music inaccuracies.
Much has been already written about how this film leaves much to be desired.
As with all book adaptions, sometimes the film adds further quality and a new dimension to them.
However, in this case the film is unfortunately its own crime scene.
At least in a book, you can flip back to remind yourself who the characters are, but very quickly in this film, you lose interest in working out who they are, and their complex family relationships.
A great opportunity for a good film with a range of well known actors, who in turn are strangled and stabbed in the back by the directing of this film.
This is where the real murder takes place.
Enough said for the negatives!
However, one lazy and inexcusable fact remains.
The song "Hippy, Hippy, Shake" is played by what I think is the Swinging Blue Jeans version. There is a sequence with it being played on a record player
This song was recorded in 1963, and became a big hit in early 1964.
Even the original version by the songwriter, Chan Romero, was not recorded until 1959.
The film is set in 1957! An example of very lazy directing, which ruins this film in so many other places.
After Life (2019)
Absolute truth of the impact of bereavement!
Absolutely brilliant!
A must watch.
Ricky Gervais tracks with total truth the difficult path following the loss of a deeply beloved partner.
The characters he encounters along the way are drawn with conviction, enabled by a superb cast of many familiar actors.
A sensitive, dark, funny, and compassionate series, which you have to watch every second of.
As someone who's been through this, I can testify to the roller coaster that is deep bereavement.
Ricky Gervais has really got this spot on. The programme and he deserve as many plaudits as you can give.
If you aren't moved emotionally in some way, then you must have had a life with no painful experiences.