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Reviews
Red Rocket (2021)
post Florida Project, director Sean Baker strikes gold again
I'm just after returning from cinema after watching this. It is absolutely brilliant & the perfect follow up to Florida Project director Sean Baker. The main actor was just incredible, utterly Oscar worthy, he made this movie as brilliant as it is; if he had delivered a dire performance, then the whole movie would've been bad also. Became a direhard fan of director Sean Baker back in 2017 after seeing Florida Project in cinema & this movie is a must see if you like his two previous movies. I had huge expectations for this movie & I have to say, this movie most certainly did not disappoint.
John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum (2019)
high expectations greatly deflated
Ok; so this one takes off exactly where John Wick 2 finished. The first 20-30 minutes of this starts off brilliantly, extremely compelling & state of the art superb fight sequences. But its really from there onward that this movie starts to get extremely repetitive: John Wick goes into a building, 40 to 50 assassins try to kill him, theres a fight scene involving John Wick beating them all up, he then goes into another building after being knocked down by a car but getting up uninjured, another 40 to 50 assassins there waiting for him And theres really only so much of this repetitive formula that us the viewers can take before we start to get bored.
In-between all of that,theres tattooed lesbian operators calling over the intercom the bounty on John Wick, highly important corrupt people coming out of the woodwork, a walk in the desert, Hallie Berry desperate to make an impression and grab the attention of would-be film makers that are going to be watching this letting them know she's still around cause lets face it - when was the last time Hallie Berry was on the big screen? a dire brutal parody performance from a normally credible Ian McShane, a credible cameo from Anjelicia Huston and lets not forget the lesbian one going from place to place barking orders at everyone, and even that lesbian one starts to get a bit tired & fed up as the movie progresses. O yes and Laurence Fishburne yet again with those pigeons.
As I said, this movie gets very repetitive, uninteresting, fails to stimulate, runs out of fizz (that said, an impression motorbike chase scene in mix) and by the final act involving a room made of glass and mirrors, I for one was examining my watch wondering how much time was left.
Naturally enough after John Wick 2, expectations were sky high for this one, and it just turns into an over-cooked mess with the makers totally losing the plot & trying to pull the wool over our eyes. This movie is NOT as on the money or on the hyper beat as John Wick 2. Costing a budget of $55million with a run time of 2hrs 10mins, this movie would've been better had they shaved say 25mins off it onto the editing-floor thus reducing the budget to about $40million. As it stands, John Wick 3 is way too polished, scrapes the barbel for a riveting compelling story, depends on relentless repetitive fight scenes to keep it ticking over which as I said get a bit boring after a while, and it *tries* to be along the lines of Raid 2 but fails miserably to come even remotely close to being as brilliant as it with an exhausted Keanu Reeves doing the best that he can.
[5/10]
Breakthrough (2019)
must-see Sunday afternoon watching
Ok; so the best way to describe this movie is a feel good spiritual Christian based movie you'd watch on a Sunday afternoon : if you liked movies along the lines of Heaven Is For Real, then chances are you'll love this also.
This movie is just utterly brilliant so uplifting, so inspirational & just like Heaven Is For Real will unquestionably be shown during Religion classes across the universe for decades to come. This movie just tugs the heartstrings throughout (bring plenty of tissues) and us the viewers can't help but become attached & involved in the enthralling story-line thats like having heart surgery without the anaesthetic. Its an engrossing well made terrific top quality Sunday afternoon movie that is just amazing.
Questionable dodgy acting from the supporting cast but Chrissy Metz as the mother makes this movie as astonishing as it is. Chrissy Metz performance in this movie is just one of those that has to be seen to be believed. She provides this movie with so much heart & soul, and its a shame & a pity that by the time next years Oscar nods come round, her mind-blowing performance will be long forgotten.
This movie is just utterly brilliant & its just sucks the emotions out of you that you just can't help yourself becoming so invested in the story-line And to a huge degree, Chrissy Metz performance makes this movie as enthralling & as amazing as it is.
[9/10]
High Life (2018)
a must for Lars von Trier fans
Ok; so the best way to describe this movie is a movie hypothetically directed by highly controversial director Lars von Trier. If you saw this movie without any of the credits and were completely & utterly oblivious as to who directed it (which as Claire Deniis by the way(who?)) you would be forgiven & totally justified placing a $100,000 bet that Lars von Trier was this movies director And if Claire Denis was to say that she WASN'T inspired by Lars von Trier regarding this movie, she would end up getting a massive electric shock from the lie-detector.
This movie slots exclusively into the World Cinema genre and as a result, it has a very zoned specific audience. If you love and are a huge fan of Lars von Trier movies, then for goodness sake! Make it your business to see this asap.
I really enjoyed & liked this movie and I'm glad I actually saw it just to satisfy my curiosity aroused by the trailer. As I said, this movie almost all takes place in a spaceship, and it is brilliantly atmospheric & its got that kind of Sigourney Weaver Aliens, too good for comfort outer-space atmosphere where theres so much claustrophobic eerie silence tension building up to something extremely violent & terrible.
With a modest budget of $9million, its really remarkable what director Claire Denis achieved here: a very disturbing unnerving could be classed as an underground B-movie thats *not* play it safe, and just like Lars von Trier (last time name mentioned, I promise), dares to *not* obey your regular run of the mill movie format And this movie is extremely interesting tension building with us the viewers constantly intrigued & when the violence and controversial themes get revealed, its controversial enough to earn a R18, but not controversial enough to get banned.
The performances from the main & supporting cast are just exceptional slotting into this eerie Si-Fi universe like a hand in glove. Robert Pattinson (Twilight fame) delivers an Oscar nod worthy performance & is so instrumental in making this movie as intriguing and interesting as it is. Juliette Binoch is as always extremely credible and I'd even go as far as to say I wouldn't be surprised if this goes on to be the performance of her career; the only nitpick I would have with Juliette Binoch here is that (without going into major spoilers) her character is completely dangerous doing the most despicable things, and I just felt Juliette Binoch could've given a more trouble/less sane performance say along the lines of Charlotte Gainsbourgs performance as William Dafoes wife in Anti-Christ. A complete and utter standout performance from Mia Goth, and in case you're wondering where you saw Mia Goth before, shes been in A Cure For Wellness & undeserved under the radar brilliant movie The Secret Of Marrowbone. Even though Mia Goth plays the exact same *Jack Nicholson's touched wife in The Shinning*-esque type character in every movie she is in, she is the most remarkable brilliant method actress, and if you loved Mia Goth in the above two mentioned movies, do not miss her performance in this.
The only thing I didn't fully understand was the scene with the dogs; where did those dogs come from? what was the point & if a climatic nerve-jolting scene was not the objective with those dogs, why bother?
I hope that this movie gets the credit that it truly deserves, this movie really deserves to be seen maybe not by everyone but certainly by World Cinema fans in particular.
[8/10]
The Curse of La Llorona (2019)
Best Horror in years regardless of what critics say
Ok; directed by first time director Michael Chaves & co-produced by James Wan (The Conjuring series), this supernatural horror movie is getting slated by critics and credible reviewers; mainly for the movie obeying a template thats been there since the horror genre started. Since the beginning of horror movies, they have always started off with the focus being on a family, normally a mum, dad & two kids (in this incidence, a single mum & two kids). We see the family doing normal everyday family stuff and without realising it, us the viewers are connecting and bonding with that family And when supernatural creepy paranormal activity starts to invade their lives, we the viewers fear for their safety.And fair enough: this movie does obey that exact same template But - get over it!
I just feel that the vicious slating that this movie is getting is hugely unjust & unfair and as a result of it,is detouring horror fans for seeing it.
For me at least (bearing in mind I am a huge horror fan), this is easily the best horror movie that I've seen in years. A horror movie released outside the Halloween period that exceeds all expectations. It is genuinely terrifying, edge of your seat nerve-jolting stuff guaranteed to give anyone of a nervous disposition nightmares & in need of a large Brandy to steady their nerves. This is the movie that horror fans (well me at least) have been screaming out for for years now. This horror movie is everything you'd ever want in a horror movie with justifiable jump-scares And with an extremely low budget of $9million, it is utterly extraordinary what they achieved here.
The backstory to La Ilorona is brilliant, the suspense tension filled Shes Behind You! is just exceptional. There is never a dull moment in this & La Ilorona herself is brilliant without there being any over-dose of CGI. And watch out for an extremely brief but brilliant Annabelle doll cameo appearance (blink and you'll miss it). Bearing in mind that there supposedly is another Annabelle & Conjuring movie in the pipeline, I was expecting some post-credits but there disappointingly isn't any.
The performances also are just exceptional from the main to supporting cast with an extraordinary standout from the young boy - son of the single mother (pardon my ignorance & laziness for not Googling his name); his facial expressions & look of utter terror when faced with La Ilorona is just mind-blowing right up there with Sigourney Weavers face to face encounters with the aliens.
Thankfully horror fans are not paying attention to the negative reviews this movie is getting as to date, La Ilorona has grossed $105million at the box-office & its well deserved. The makers of La Ilorona deserve a massive pat on the back for making such an incredible terrifying nerve-jolting brilliant horror movie that is unquestionably most worthy of being shown on dvd at a teenagers next sleepover Halloween party guaranteeing all of the teenagers screaming in terror. Horror fans - do not miss this.
[10/10]
Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile (2019)
A Compelling Must-See
Ok; so first off, this movie was going to be an extremely difficult movie to make but I think that they got the balance just right as right as can be at least. Ted Bundy the serial killer is extremely iconic, the whole universe is aware of what Ted Bundy did, so it was extremely difficult for this movie to tell the Ted Bundy story from the angle that they did because to be honest just from what I saw in this movie, I for one was most definitely questioning the guilty verdict cause the evidence that's presented in the court scenes is highly circumstantial. By the way, this movie does not show any of the gruesome murders taking place (well, nothing worth talking about anyway). I thought that this movie was extremely well made. It focuses on as I said Ted Bundys girlfriends perspective And it also focuses in on the court case which was the very first case to be televised right through to the verdict and the then outcome of the verdict. This movie is extremely riveting, enthralling & so interesting. Now this movie is not perfect in that it leaves an enormous amount of questions unanswered but for whatever reasons weather they had to obey the confines of a book or maybe for legal reasons couldn't highlight certain aspects; never the less, it is a must-see.
Zac Efron who is normally attached to Jackass American comedies does an extraordinary job here, he is extremely credible & most certainly worthy of an Oscar nod And I for one would like Zac Efron to take on more serious roles in future And I've always said for years now what an extremely talented actor he really is. Lily Collins delivers the most exceptionally outstanding performance. It must have been an exceptionally difficult part to play playing second fiddle to Zac Efron ie in the shadow of Ted Bundy, but being extremely instrumental & relevant at the same time; the same way as Alicia Vikander shadowing Eddie Redmaye in The Danish Girl. I hope that Lily Collins gets the recognition she truly deserves for delivering such a remarkable performance. Worth mentioning also is Kaya Scodelario as Ted Bundys other love interest who is extremely credible. In the mix also is John Malkovich as John Malkovich, and watch out for an all grown-up bearded Halely Joel Osment.
[10/10]
The Hustle (2019)
Hustled by the trailer.
Ok; so after watching the trailer, my expectations were huge especially with Anne Hathaway & Rebel Wilson attached. It pains me to say it but overall this movie is just dead in the water, flat as a pancake, its uneventful, its non-adventurous, it unimpressive & it ends up being nothing more than straight into dvd bargain-bin for £4.
The best way to describe this movie is if Anne Hathaway & Rebel Wilson did a one act comedy show, this would be it with tickets for the show being no more than a tenner. I think its fair to say that we have been hustled by the trailer.
Rebel Wilson delivers her usual one trick pony comedic performance while Anne Hathaway becomes so ridiculously parody, she loses the plot.
There is minimum chuckle moments, no laugh out loud moments & more often than not, you end up looking at the person next to you questioning are we supposed to be laughing right now?
[3/10]