Category Archives: Movie Reviews

Faraway – Movie Review

Posted on by
1

TL;DR – A fun little story about finding love in a faraway land, where you might find yourself for than anything else.    

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene

Disclosure – I paid for the Netflix service that viewed this film

The Croatian Coastline.

Faraway Review –

Sometimes you sit down to watch a film with no real plan as to what you will watch. You are just looking for something to spark your interest, and the story of a woman finding love in a long-lost house bequeathed to her by her late mother, who no one knew about. That is a good plot hook to make me interested in how that plays out.

So to set the scene, Zeynep Altin (Naomi Krauss) is trying to keep the family together as they prepare for her mother’s funeral. But things are not good at home, as just about every member of her house walks all over her. But it is at this lowest point when the family lawyer tells Zeynep that her mother purchased a home in her homeland of Croatia and left it to Zeynep in her will. What do you do when everyone has let you down? Well, how about you head to the coast and find a new view on life?  

Continue reading →

The Mandalorian: Chapter 18 (The Mines of Mandalore) – TV Review

Posted on by
1

TL;DR – We finally make it to Mandalore, and it should be no surprise that it is not as empty as once thought.  

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Disney+ service that viewed this show.

Peli Motto looks at a striped down racer.

The Mandalorian Review –

It has been an interesting transition to shift tonally from Andor, with its much more severe and grounded story, back to the romp of The Mandalorian. It is probably a good showing of the strength of the underlying Star Wars universe that both can work within the same frame. This week we do lean hard into that romp because … is that pod racers I see?

So to set the scene, last week in The Apostate, we were reminded [for those who skipped The Book of Boba Fett] that The Mandalorian (Pedro Pascal) has been excommunicated from his group. Because he showed his face … willing … the shame. He can only seek forgiveness if he bathes in the sacred waters under the mines of Mandalore. The only problem is that The Empire used fusion bombs to glass the planet’s entire surface. It is poisonous. It is cursed. Or is it? Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole and the rest of the season, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

Continue reading →

Aftersun – Movie Review

Posted on by
10

TL;DR – An emotional whirlwind – Stunning, Beautiful, and Heartbreaking.     

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene

Disclosure – I paid to see this film

Warning – This film contains a lot of flashing lights.

An image of Sophie pixelated by the old camera

Aftersun Review –

If one film has been bubbling away in my subconscious since last October, it was Aftersun. Everyone who had seen it spoke of it almost like a transcendent experience, but it has taken a long time to make it down to my realm and longer for me to make it to the cinema. However, if the saying all good things come to those who wait had a physical manifestation, it would be Aftersun.

So to set the scene, it is sometime in the past [I think the late 1990s before everyone had mobile phones], and Calum (Paul Mescal) goes on a family trip to Turkey with his daughter Sophie (Frankie Corio). Sophie lives with her mother, which is a chance for them to bond, but there is some apparent awkwardness for all. Calum is trying to build a relationship, while Sophie is at the age where she is finding her independence. Is this trip the start of something better or the beginning of the end?

Continue reading →

Tár – Movie Review

Posted on by
2

TL;DR – A phenomenal performance in a severely dull film   

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene

Disclosure – I paid to see this film

Records on the floor.

Tár Review –

This will be a difficult film to review because it is a movie of two very distinct parts, performance and narrative. Thus it becomes a work of incredible highs and deep lows, and trying to pass that feels like climbing a mountain. But climb we will as we dive into this fascinatingly frustrating film.

So to set the scene, Lydia Tár (Cate Blanchett) is at the height of her career. She is the first female chief conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic, being asked to do masterclasses at the Juilliard School, she has a book coming out Tár on Tár, and she has a beautiful homelife with her wife Sharon Goodnow (Nina Hoss) and daughter Petra (Mila Bogojevic). But there is a growing sense that Tár is walking on shifting sands as actions of the past start bubbling to the surface.     

Continue reading →

Creed III – Movie Review

Posted on by
5

TL;DR – Creed III is electric, every punch matters, every emotion hits, and I was captivated from start to finish.   

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene

Disclosure – I was invited to a press screening of this film.

Creed III Review –

If there was ever a film to remind you not to judge a book by its cover, it is the first Creed film. Creed I was a film that, on the surface, felt like it would not amount to much. A spin-off of a film series that itself had already gone well past its prime. But boy, was I wrong. That first Creed was an emotional punch to the stomach while also being a technical masterclass in how to film boxing for cinema. Then they followed it up with Creed II, which came out swinging just as much as the first. Now, Creed III is one of my most anticipated films this year as we see if they can pull off a hat trick.    

So to set the scene, since winning his rematch with Viktor Drago (Florian Munteanu), Adonis “Donnie” Creed (Michael B. Jordan) has been going from strength to strength on and off the ring, especially in his family life with Bianca Taylor (Tessa Thompson) and their daughter Amara (Mila Davis-Kent). But when he finally retires, his past comes back to haunt him. When Donnie (Thaddeus James Mixson Jr) was young, he had a friend Dame (Spence Moore II). But, unlike Donnie, Dame never got a lifeline and has spent a long time in jail. Now he is out, Dame (Jonathan Majors) is looking to show the world that he deserves to be in the ring, that it was not handed to him, and now former friends find each other on opposite sides.

Continue reading →

We Have a Ghost – Movie Review

Posted on by
Reply

TL;DR – A frustrating film sometimes, but when it finds its feet, you feel its strength and spooks.   

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene

Disclosure – I paid for the Netflix service that viewed this film.

The house at night before all hell breaks loose.

We Have a Ghost Review –

I always like to see when a filmmaker takes a spin on what they are known for. Christopher Landon has a long career in horror space with Paranormal Activity and Happy Death Day, but could he make a more family-orientated supernatural film land as well? Well, this is the question we ask as we dive into a world of ghosts, or well at least a world of a ghost.  

 So to set the scene, one night, while the Moon was full, all was quiet until screams erupted from a house bathed in eerily green light. All at once a family rushes to their car and drives away, and the house closes itself up. Kevin (Jahi Di’Allo Winston) and his family move into the rundown house one year later. There is a lot of tension between Kevin and his father, Frank (Anthony Mackie), over the move, as it is one of many the family has gone through. But as Kevin walks through the house at night, it suddenly gets cold, a chair starts moving by itself, and then a spectral presence explodes out of the walls. But instead of being scared, Kevin laughs, beginning a very different relationship with the ghost Ernest (David Harbour) as they team up to help each other.     

Continue reading →

Cocaine Bear – Movie Review

Posted on by
5

TL;DR – It is a film about a bear high on cocaine running amok. I am not sure I need to say much more than that.     

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There are two mid-credit scenes

Disclosure – I was invited to a press screening of this film.

A Bloody phone hangs.

Cocaine Bear Review –

There are many reasons why a film can capture your attention. Maybe it is the cast, a name that immediately makes you intrigued? Could it be the genre, another period romance, or a sci-fi epic? They are the only two genres, apparently. But in rare moments, a film’s title can immediately hook you. This week we have just a movie because, if nothing else, the name Cocaine Bear is instantly provocative and makes you want to work out what the heck is going on.

So to set the scene, it is 1984, and the small town of Knoxville, Tennessee, wakes up to bundles of cocaine that started falling from the sky after a drug drop went very wrong. While some landed in suburbia, most of the stash lands in the state forest near Chattahoochee, Georgia. When the drug runners catch up to the cocaine, they find a surprise waiting for them, a 500 lb (230 kg) American black bear currently consuming their property. But this is a public park, and there is more than just the drug runners walking around. I mean, what’s the worst that half a ton of muscle and claw do when high as a kite? Cue the fatalities.

Continue reading →

Star Trek: Picard – The Next Generation – TV Review

Posted on by
3

TL;DR – A beautiful start to the final season.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Paramount+ service that viewed this episode.

Commander Seven of Nine

Star Trek: Picard Review –

I have enjoyed the first two seasons of Star Trek Picard, even though they have been very uneven. But I did have some hesitations coming into Season 3 because it felt like the show was dumping most of its supporting cast to give The Next Generation crew one last run. Was this nostalgia going to be a lovely swan song for the final season or an anchor to drag it all down? Well, this first episode makes it feel like it is not the latter.

So to set the scene, we open in the 25th Century as we zoom through a nebula to the SS Eleos XII, where Captain Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden) is under attack from unknown assailants. After dispatching them but gravely wounded, Beverly sends an encoded message to Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart), a man she has not spoken to in 20 years. Jean-Luc needs to go help his old friend, but how else are you going to do that by bringing in some help from old friends in the form of Captain Will Riker (Jonathan Frakes). Now from here, we will be looking at the episode as a whole, so there will be [SPOILERS] ahead for the show.

Continue reading →

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania – Movie Review

Posted on by
8

TL;DR – While individual elements work, when you combine them with a story that feels kitbashed together from other/better narratives, you get a bit of a disappointment.     

Rating: 2 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene

Disclosure – I paid to see this film

Kang shows his full power.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania Review –

Sigh … okay, let’s do this. I feel before I go on that, somehow, I need to build a touch of credibility on the topic of Ant-Man. I don’t know why, but let’s just go with it. I unashamedly love Ant-Man, as well as, Ant-Man and the Wasp. The first Ant-Man was a perfect coda to Phase 2, a surprisingly fun romp through San Francisco and size. The second was a breath of fresh air in-between the dourness that was the two Avengers. I loved that we were getting a third, but something in the marketing campaign made me pause … I think I should have listened to that part of myself.

So to set the scene, after helping to save the world in Avengers Endgame, Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) has tried to be a better father to Cassie (Kathryn Newton) who he has years of catching up to do, and a better boyfriend to Hope (Evangeline Lilly). All while writing a best-selling book. However, that ball of calm is crushed when Cassie is arrested at a protest, and her grandparents Hank (Michael Douglas) and Janet (Michelle Pfeiffer) might have been supporting her more rebellious side. But it is Cassie’s work in trying to chart the Quantum Realm that brings everything unstuck. Because as they knock at the door of the realm, something knocks back and sucks them all in. Now it is time for Janet’s past to catch up to her in the future.

Continue reading →

Daughter – Movie Review

Posted on by
Reply

TL;DR – An unrelenting exploration of the subversion of the family unit.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene

Disclosure – I was sent a screener of this film

Warning – contains scenes that may cause distress.

A ritual.

Daughter Review –

Some films pique your interest because of the genre or the narrative framework. Some still come from a casting choice that you must see how it plays out. This week we are looking at a film that hits all of these as we delve into a dark world.

So to set the scene, we open on a dirt road as a lady runs for her life as a pickup truck driven by two people in gas masks chases her down. Later a woman (Vivien Ngô) wakes up shackled to the floor with Father (Casper Van Dien) looming over her. She is to be called Sister and will soon be introduced to Mother (Elyse Dinh) and Brother (Ian Alexander). She will not be hurt … as long as she behaves because Brother is exceptional, and she needs to help him avoid the sickness out in the world.

Continue reading →