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Category: Film reviews (2019) (Page 3 of 6)

Hobbs & Shaw review “Unashamedly ludicrous”

Hobbs & Shaw posterPart of this post is sponsored by 4DX Cinemas. The Fast & Furious franchise has carved itself quite the enviable niche over the course of its nine-film run. Starting out as little more than a load of pretty people racing pretty cars around pretty locations, the series has evolved into a well-connected universe that is frankly, absolutely ludicrous.

Two of those big names, Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham were true highlights in the two previous instalments in the series, both of which crossed the coveted $1billion mark at the global box office and with spin-offs being the order of the day, a Hobbs & Shaw solo film was greenlit.

David Leitch who made his directorial debut with John Wick and then followed up with Atomic Blonde and a decent sequel to Deadpool was drafted in to make this film as bonkers as anything he’s created before. But what is the finished product like? Continue reading

Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood review “What is the longest and most drawn out way to say it’s meandering?”

Once Upon A Time In... Hollywood posterYou may remember that in October 2018, I reviewed a film called Bad Times at the El Royale. I really enjoyed that movie, which took place in the sixties, featured a star-studded cast, and mainly revolved around a Charles Manson-esque serial killer. I called it “Tarantino-esque Fun”. Now, we have Once Upon a Time… In Hollywood from Quentin Tarantino himself, which takes place in the sixties, featured a star-studded cast, and was said to revolve around Charles Manson.

I can say there are a few differences here though, Bad Times is much more of a thriller while this is more of a dramedy. I also enjoyed watching Bad Times and found this movie to be a massively underwhelming, somewhat dull, and meandering disappointment. I mean, everything seemed like it was going to be great, right? Tarantino, a ton of great actors, a cool set-up with the Manson murders, as well as a character named Daulton, even if they did spell it wrong. Everything seemed to say that this would be an incredible movie, so went wrong? Well, allow me to tell you why in the review of Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood. Continue reading

The Lion King review “A technical marvel”

The Lion King posterAnother month, another Disney remake. After audiences and critics alike were underwhelmed by Tim Burton’s bizarre take on Dumbo, tensions were high with the releases of Aladdin and The Lion King. Thankfully, the former was a colourful, spirited adventure that updated the 1992 classic for the modern-age.

It also has grossed nearly $1billion to-date, but that’s by-the-by – what am I saying, of course it’s not. Money speaks volumes. Nevertheless, The Lion King is perhaps the biggest risk Disney has ever made. It’s arguably the most-loved animation in the studio’s back-catalogue. Think of Aladdin and Dumbo as a litmus test and you wouldn’t be far wrong.

Thankfully, Disney were well aware of this and assembled a strike force of film-makers and actors to ensure this adaptation is as good as it possibly can be. Bringing in The Jungle Book director Jon Favreau was a good idea and his reimagining of that classic performed very well with both critics and audiences. But has he buckled under the pressure? Or is The Lion King a treat for the senses? Continue reading

Midsommar review “Ari Aster does it again”

Midsommar movie posterWatch the walls. Director Ari Aster’s advice to cinema-goers heading out to see his second directorial feature may seem strange, but it makes sense once you see it. Aster’s Hereditary (2018) follow-up is sunny, funny and so pretty you barely notice the horror.

Our protagonist Dani is reaching the end of a four-year relationship with Christian (Jack Reynor), an uninterested, inattentive boyfriend who wanted to end it months ago but stayed with Dani when tragedy befalls her and her family. Dani joins Christian and his pals Josh (William Jackson Harper), Mark (Will Poulter) and Swedish native Pelle (Vilhelm Blomgren) for a nine day once-in-a-lifetime festival celebrating midsommar in Pelle’s hometown of Halsingland. Continue reading

Booksmart review “A surprisingly realistic fantasy”

Booksmart movie posterHaving gone to three high schools myself during my teenage tenure, I feel like I have more knowledge about different kinds of high schools than the average person. That being said, if the things that happened in this movie happen, I must have missed out because Booksmart is freaking insane. It’s a good insane, one of my favourite comedies ever made insane, but insane regardless. The directorial debut of Olivia Wilde is the best comedy I’ve seen since Game Night, which was also among my favourite films of the year. Enough lollygagging though, let’s dive into Booksmart.

So the best thing about Booksmart is the comedy, and it is so funny. For a movie to actually get an audible laugh from me is rare. Does it happen from time to time? Yeah, I audibly chuckled a few times in Long Shot, and I had probably one or two extended laughs during Isn’t it Romantic, but my laughter in Booksmart was just constant. The lengths that our heroes go to in order to prove that they’re cool is astounding and the ways that they mess up in this endeavour are even funnier. Continue reading

Spider-Man: Far From Home review “Marvel’s Phase 3 comes to a melancholic end”

Spider-Man: Far From Home posterSpider-Man: Homecoming was one of the biggest surprises in the superhero genre. After the masked web-slinger’s troubled history on the big screen, Marvel intervened and took the story back to basics. With a compelling villain in Michael Keaton’s Vulture, Homecoming shot to the top of many MCU rankings and it’s easy to see why.

Ending Phase Three of the MCU was never going to be easy, especially after the drama of this year’s Avengers: Endgame, but Tom Holland’s Peter Parker has been tasked with tying up all those loose ends. So how does he do? Continue reading

After review “Fifty Shades lacking steaminess”

After movie posterOkay, I’ve said this four times this year so far, but this has gotta be the worst movie of the year. First, I said it for Captive State, then I said it for Hellboy, then The Challenger Disaster, and now, we’ve wound up here at After. How exactly did this movie come to be made?

For those who don’t know, this is based off of a One Direction fan fiction created on Wattpad (Which has previously given us movies such as The Kissing Booth) which eventually spun off into a five book series including one installment called After Ever Happy. So, somehow this turned into a movie starring Selma Blair from Cruel Intentions for a whopping five minutes and that kid who played Tom Riddle in The Half Blood Prince. There is no use in prolonging this any longer, let’s get into After. Continue reading

Toy Story 4 review “This is the end”

Toy Story 4 movie posterI’m not crying, you’re crying. That’s the way it goes with Disney and Pixar movies, right? The general consensus about the Toy Story trilogy is one of unanimous praise – you only need to look at the Rotten Tomato reviews for that. Where sequels are ordinarily inferior to their predecessors, the Toy Story franchise is one that has managed to stay relevant and strikingly animated over the course of its 24-year history.

So successful it is that the planned finale, 2010’s Toy Story 3, is no longer that. Taking over $1billion worldwide, Disney decided to release another, much to the disdain of many fans and film critics like myself. Why risk ruining something that has meant so much to so many people across the world? Surely another sequel will only taint a franchise that has been practically perfection? In true Disney fashion, they pressed on regardless. But is Toy Story 4 a shameless cash-in? Continue reading

X-Men: Dark Phoenix review “Goodbye normal Jean”

X-Men: Dark Phoenix posterIt would be easy to write off X-Men: Dark Phoenix as a complete and utter disaster. With the departure of Bryan Singer (again) from the franchise, first-time director Simon Kinberg taking his place and rumours of costly reshoots pushing the budget north of $200million, things weren’t looking good for this adaptation of the popular Marvel comic.

Let’s not forget that the last time Fox tried to adapt this storyline we ended up with 2006’s The Last Stand, and the less said about that the better. Looking back over the last 20 years, the X-Men’s film franchise history has been chequered to say the least.

Nevertheless, this particular timeline that started with Matthew Vaughn’s adequate First Class, followed up by the excellent Days of Future Past and the flabby Apocalypse ends with Dark Phoenix. But is it worthy of your consideration? Continue reading

Godzilla: King of the Monsters review “All hail the Titans”

Godzilla: King of the Monsters movie poster2014’s Godzilla was a thrilling and somewhat underrated return to form for the king of the kaiju. Directed by visionary film-maker Gareth Edwards, Godzilla’s return to the big screen was beautifully filmed with some of the best set pieces ever seen on celluloid. It certainly made up for the Roland Emmerich monstrosity that shall remain nameless here.

Little did we know 5 years ago that Edwards’ mega movie would be the start of a franchise culminating in a battle of the ages: Godzilla vs Kong. Follow-up film Kong: Skull Island was again, beautifully filmed, feeling like a movie from a completely different era. Now the follow-up to the follow-up is here. Still with us? Good. Continue reading

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