Category: Film reviews (2019) (Page 1 of 6)

Movie Metropolis launches exciting Patreon

30 March 2021 / Adam Brannon / 0 Comments

After 11 years of blogging, Movie Metropolis has decided to launch a brand-new Patreon, with three distinct tiers that provide Patrons with incredible benefits, including access to our new Newsletter “The Metropolis Post”, which includes all the latest film news, gossip and opinion. Our levels are designed as an ongoing thank you for your generous support.

In this article, founder Adam Brannon discusses why it felt like the right time to create a Patreon for Movie Met, and what you can expect to receive by signing up and showing your support.

The best and worst Woody Allen films

3 October 2020 / Daulton Meadows / 1 Comment

So originally I was going to open this article by making a dark oke about how Woody Allen and I are kinda similar because we both like old movies, are sarcastic and date girls born in the early 2000s, but after watching twenty two of his forty eight films, I found myself unable to continue on this project, and I feel the need to explain why. I started this project by watching the films that were commonly regarded as the best, so films like Annie Hall, Midnight in Paris, and other such films which aren’t on either list.

But then those got kind of bland and weren’t breaking into the top five anymore, so I decided to reverse the plan and pad the worst films list by watching the least liked Woody Allen films like Curse of the Jade Scorpion or Scoop. Those got even more bland and dull!

So twenty two films in, I called it quits, as I couldn’t bring myself to watch another movie about a man who hates himself and everyone else, cheat on/be friends with someone who cheats on their wife, with themes about how great New York City is, even though they admit that city still kinda sucks. I also knew that nothing would be better than the films I had already watched, and that any additions to the worst films list would have made me question my love of movies altogether. So, let’s get into the best and the worst Woody Allen films.

The Platform review “It may make you think of a COVID-19 world, but we’re not all that bad”

2 April 2020 / Adam Brannon / 2 Comments

Like something from American Psycho (Mary Harron, 2000) and the film’s clever opening credits in which we see raspberry coulis dripping on a white dinner plate, looking a lot like blood. The Platform in a similar sense shows decadent cuisine that represents class structures and the violence that will prevail around these tiers. In its opening, e witness a high-class banquet preparation which is then contrasted by the people below, the ones who are imprisoned in a hole.

The hole is a strange high tech concept that is like solitary confinement but with changing inmates. We meet the main newcomer Goreng (Ivan Massagué) and an older grisly man, Trimagasi (Zorion Eguileor) who has nearly completed his journey and is no stranger to this setup. However, this is not a prison system as such, and we learn that Goreng has chosen to be here. As it is explained by the company’s Imoguiri, the familiar Spanish actor Antonia San Juan (All About My Mother), it is a “Vertical Self- Management Center”. Continue reading

Cats review “What a way to end 2019”

21 December 2019 / Adam Brannon / 1 Comment

It’s hard to think of a better director to helm a live-action adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s iconic stage musical, Cats, than Tom Hooper. Already with 2013’s Les Misérables under his belt and receiving critical acclaim (and an Oscar no less) from 2011’s The King’s Speech, he’s adept in this field of film-making.

Nevertheless, Cats has been under much scrutiny since its trailers debuted earlier this year, with criticism being levelled at the unusual choice of CGI to render a roster of famous faces as the titular felines. But is the finished product a new classic or a cat-astrophy? Continue reading

Daisy Ridley in The Rise of Skywalker — © Disney LucasFilm

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker review “Wait a minute, that’s it?”

19 December 2019 / Adam Brannon / 0 Comments

I don’t think it would be remiss of me to state that The Last Jedi was one of the most divisive blockbusters in recent memory. Sitting at 91% on Rotten Tomatoes, it looks pretty good, but as we all know, that only tells half the story.

Sure, Rian Johnson’s space opera scored an overwhelmingly positive 91% from critics, but for audiences; aka Star Wars fans, it achieved just 43% based on over 200,000 ratings. On that scale, it is the lowest rated film in the series.

You see, Johnson had full control over the story and the direction of The Last Jedi after J.J Abrams introduced a new generation of sci-fi geeks to the Star Wars name with 2015’s huge hit, The Force Awakens, and many felt that not only did it deviate too much away from Star Wars lore, it made some poor choices too. Continue reading

Jack Black and Karen Gillan in Jumanji: The Next Level — © Sony

Jumanji: The Next Level review “A rare breed of sequel”

7 December 2019 / Adam Brannon / 1 Comment

Sleeper hit: a term used in the entertainment industry for a film that plays successfully for a long period and becomes a big success, despite being a surprise to critics, audiences and industry analysts.

You could say that Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle is the very definition of a sleeper hit. The first trailers were underwhelming, showcasing some ropey CGI, body swap comedy tropes and a lack of respect for the Robin Williams 1995 classic. Yet, in spite of all this, the film ended up grossing nearly $1billion worldwide.

Why? Well the film was actually pretty good. Sure, it wasn’t spectacular but a combination of a witty script, brilliant self-awareness and a roster of characters that were so well written they made Jack Black actually likeable, meant it shot straight to the top of the box office. Continue reading

Last Christmas review “The swansong George Michael deserved”

1 December 2019 / Adam Brannon / 0 Comments

After a shoddily low amount of Christmas releases this year, Last Christmas feels like a twinkly fairy light shining in the dimmed light over older releases, bringing a fresh lease of life to the world of the Christmas movie. Written by the legendary Emma Thompson and Greg Wise, it explores Christmas through the eyes of George Michael’s music. Does it, however, give you the same feeling that the song Last Christmas does?

Last Christmas follows Kate, a lazy, grimy, unkempt woman, who works as an elf in an all year round Christmas shop. However, she has a dark past, and after overcoming a mysterious illness last year, she isn’t quite herself. After meeting Tom, a man described as having something ‘serial killery’ about him, Kate puts her trust in him to start the journey back to herself. Continue reading

The Irishman review “Scorsese treads no new ground”

30 November 2019 / Adam Brannon / 0 Comments

Scorsese is back! But wait, it gets better… Following a 13-year hiatus from the gangster genre, he returns to the fold with a 3.5 hour-long epic starring all your favourite wise guys from the 80s and 90s. The Irishman, also titled I Heard You Paint Houses in the opening credits (there must have been some sort of mix-up in the marketing department), sees Robert De Niro return to Scorsese’s roll call as real-life gangster Frank Sheeran, a lorry driver turned crook made infamous by his association with the Bufalino crime family.

I must admit, after seeing the cast, the trailer and the reviews that followed, I was very excited as I sat down to watch The Irishman. Not only do we get a Scorsese gangster film, but we get a Scorsese gangster film with Harvey Keitel, we get Joe Pesci back from retirement and, to top it all off, we get De Niro and Pacino, two of Hollywood’s greatest actors, sharing screen time for only the third time in cinema history. Continue reading

Frozen II review “Let it go Disney, just let it go”

23 November 2019 / Adam Brannon / 0 Comments

2013’s Frozen was and remains a cultural phenomenon for kids around the globe. Elsa, Anna, Kristoff, Olaf and reindeer Sven made their way into popular culture and have never retreated, becoming some of Disney’s most beloved fictional characters.

Kaching! With that and nearly $1.3billion in box-office takings behind it, plus all the profits from toys, books and games, Frozen was a gargantuan hit on another level to anything else we had seen in the genre and it remained the highest-grossing animated film of all time until The Lion King came along earlier this year and spoiled the fun.

A sequel then was never a surprise. What was a surprise however is just how long it took Disney to get Frozen II to cinemas. It’s been six whole years since we’ve seen Elsa and the crew in a full-length film and for kids who grew up with its predecessor, this new addition needed to be more mature to keep the attention of new and existing fans. But what is the finished product like? Continue reading

Eddie Redmayne in The Aeronauts — © Amazon

The Aeronauts review “More melodrama than meteorology”

16 November 2019 / Adam Brannon / 0 Comments

Nothing sets the tone better for a movie than a bit of historical revisionism. The Aeronauts, starring Eddie Redmayne, follows the real-life exploits of James Glaisher as he embarks on a perilous adventure in the name of scientific advancement. Where the film departs from reality is in Glaisher’s co-pilot, actual companion Henry Coxwell is replaced by fictional hot air balloon pilot, Amelia Wren (played by Felicity Jones).

Armed with this knowledge before entering the cinema, I went in fully aware that I was in for more melodrama than meteorology. Continue reading