Category Archives: Movie Reviews

Movie Review – Pitch Perfect 3

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TL;DR – To be honest this film feels like some fan fiction that came to life, good fan fiction, silly but in a fun kind of way.

Score – 3.5 out of 5 stars

Post-Credit Scene – There is a sort of mid-credit sequence

Pitch Perfect 3

Review –

As a series I’ve really liked each of the Pitch Perfect films, they blend humour with fun characters, and great musical performances. So walking into the third and potentially final film, if its promotion can be believed, there was a bit of trepidation on my part. Cinema is full of movies that can’t stick the landing on the trilogy, and have instead gone out on a fizzle rather than a bang. Well, I am happy to say that Pitch Perfect 3 is not one of those films and hell you even get the bang in the first five minutes. So let’s dive in and look at our first film review of 2018.

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My Top 15 Films of 2017

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TL;DR – 2017 was a great year in film and here are our favourites
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Countdown –

So here we are at the end of the year, the sound of fireworks still ringing in our ears, the excess of Christmas just a faint memory, and the realisation just dawning that you probably won’t get your money’s worth out of that gym membership you bought for your New Year’s resolution. However, it is also a time of reflection, a look into the past and the hope for the future, and while 2017 has been not great internationally, there were some great moments in cinema, and this is what we are celebrating today.

So far in our end of year countdown we have had Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4 of our Key Moments in Cinema in 2017 over the last couple of days, also we have looked at the Bottom 10 Films of 2017, but today it is all good all the time, so let us dive in.

Before we start we are going to take a few moments to clarify our criteria for the entries on this list so you understand why a film may or may not appear here. First, it has to be one of the 84 films we review in 2017 (To see all the films we reviewed this year Click Here). Now this means a couple of things, first you may see some films here that were released in 2016 where you live, but were not released until 2017 here, as well as this, a number of the films in contention for Oscars this year like Lady Bird and Call Me By Your Name have not been released yet here, or not released widely, as such they won’t appear on this list (we will hopefully be reviewing them later in January). Also shout out to Ali’s Wedding, Baby Driver, Detroit, Jasper Jones, Power Rangers, Star Wars: The Last Jedi & The Lego Batman Film who were close to making it onto this list.

Now just a warning we will be discussing these films, and some of them are still in cinemas, so be careful because [SPOILERS] are incoming. So without any further ado let us begin the Top 15 Films for 2017.

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My Bottom 10 Films of 2017

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TL;DR – Not everything in 2017 was great, here are the cinematic missteps that happened along the way

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Countdown –

It’s the end of one year and the start of another and among the fireworks, booze, and celebrations there is one tradition that transcends all and that is the tradition of end of year lists and who would I be to buck this trend, even if I am a little late. So over the next two days, we will be seeing the best and worst that 2017 had to offer with regards to movies. Tomorrow we will have the all-important ‘Top Films of 2017’, also we have had Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4 of our Key Moments in cinema in 2017 over the last couple of days. However, today we start with the opposite, with the worst or most disappointing films of 2017.

Now before we start I just want to make a clarification on the criteria I used to categorise the following entries. The films on this list had to be films that I reviewed in 2017, now this means there may have been worse films out there but if something is clearly a train wreck then why subject yourself to it, so you can consider The Emoji Film and Fifty Shades Darker to be honorary members of this list and shout out to Olaf’s Frozen Adventure, for just missing the cut-off. Also just to be clear there will be spoilers here.

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Awards – Key Moments in Cinema in 2017 Part 4

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TL;DR – This is the end of the year, so let’s take a look back at the year that was by examining twenty categories across cinema, ranging from exquisite to the obscured and all between
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Awards –

It is the end of the year (well a bit later than that but life happened) and while I will have the traditional Best of 2017 and Worst of 2017 lists, I have found that both of those lists miss some of the important facets that make films work, or not work. To eligible for these awards, they simply had to be a film I reviewed in 2017, and there may be some notable absences simply because we have not got those films here yet. So in Part 4 of 4, we look at five different categories that deal with the cinema of 2017.

  • The characters that I loved
  • The biggest surprise
  • The best team up
  • The best villain
  • The most emotional film

So let’s dive into TL;DR Movie Review’s Awards of 2017 Part 4

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Awards – Key Moments in Cinema in 2017 Part 3

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TL;DR – This is the end of the year, so let’s take a look back at the year that was by examining twenty categories across cinema, ranging from exquisite to the obscured and all between

Awards Banner

Awards –

It is the end of the year (well a bit later than that but life happened) and while I will have the traditional Best of 2017 and Worst of 2017 lists, I have found that both of those lists miss some of the important facets that make films work, or not work. To eligible for these awards, they simply had to be a film I reviewed in 2017, and there may be some notable absences simply because we have not got those films here yet. So in Part 3 of 4, we look at five different categories that deal with the cinema of 2017.

  • The films that were just fun
  • The films that dragged on too long
  • Masterclasses in film
  • Recurring themes
  • Stupid Character Deaths

So let’s dive into TL;DR Movie Review’s Awards of 2017 Part 3

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Awards – Key Moments in Cinema in 2017 Part 2

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TL;DR – This is the end of the year, so let’s take a look back at the year that was by examining twenty categories across cinema, ranging from exquisite to the obscured and all between

Awards Banner

Awards –

 

It is the end of the year (well a bit later than that but life happened) and while I will have the traditional Best of 2017 and Worst of 2017 lists, I have found that both of those lists miss some of the important facets that make films work, or not work. To eligible for these awards, they simply had to be a film I reviewed in 2017, and there may be some notable absences simply because we have not got those films here yet. So in Part 2 of 4, we look at five different categories that deal with the cinema of 2017.

  • The films that just didn’t quite work
  • The best line of dialogue in cinema
  • Movie trends that I am really sick of
  • The grossest moments I had to sit through
  • The films I will go to bat for

So let’s dive into TL;DR Movie Review’s Awards of 2017 Part 2

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Awards – Key Moments in Cinema in 2017 Part 1

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TL;DR – This is the end of the year, so let’s take a look back at the year that was by examining twenty categories across cinema, ranging from exquisite to the obscured, and all between
Awards Banner

Awards –

It is the end of the year (well a bit later than that but life happened) and while I will have the traditional Best of 2017 and Worst of 2017 lists, I have found that both of those lists miss some of the important facets that make films work, or not work. To eligible for these awards, they simply had to be a film I reviewed in 2017, and there may be some notable absences simply because we have not got those films here yet.  So in Part 1 of 4, we look at five different categories that deal with the cinema of 2017.

  • The actions sequences that entertained
  • The films in 2017 that decided that just ok, was good enough for them
  • The films that exploded off the screen with beautiful cinematography
  • Those sneaky cameos they snuck in
  • The fantastic characters in cinema that are not just one person’s performance, a team came together to make it work

So let’s dive into TL;DR Movie Review’s Awards of 2017 Part 1

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Movie Review – The Villainess (Ak-Nyeo, 악녀)

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TL;DR – Some of the most fascinating actions sequences I have ever seen, sandwiched between one of the dullest stories I have ever watched. I don’t think I have reviewed a film with such extremes in quality before, it was both fascinating and disappointing all at once.

Score – 2.5 out of 5 stars

Post-Credit Scene – No

The Villainess (Ak-Nyeo, 악녀). Image Credit: Well Go.

Review –

Wow, I don’t think I have ever come across a film like The Villainess before that had the ability to both deeply interest me and also deeply bore me all in the same film. In a story of two halves, you have some of the most fascinating action sequences I have ever seen put to film, and in the other half a spy revenge tale that was just a slog to get through. On the one hand, having such a discrepancy is interesting to talk about, but also it was really frustrating because you could see such potential squandered so badly.

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Movie Review – The Greatest Showman

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TL;DR – They are clearly going for heart-warming, and they mostly succeed, however, the predictable story and character arcs leave a lot to be desired.

Score – 3 out of 5 stars

Post-Credit Scene – No

The Greatest Showman. Image Credit: 20th Century Fox.

Review –

So this one sort of snuck up on me at the end of the year. I didn’t really have much of an intention to go see it, but it was cheap Tuesday and I was there, so what the hell, and I am mostly glad I did … maybe. For one, this is a musical, a genre that you don’t see on the big screen that often anymore, so that’s refreshing. It also has a cast that is giving their all to this movie and it shows, but you can’t help having some issues with it as you walked out of the cinemas.

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Movie Review – Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle

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TL;DR – This film is an hour and a half of pure fun, and probably the first video game film to work in a very long time, and some of the best casting I have seen in a while

Score – 4 out of 5 stars

Jumanji Welcome to the Jungle. Image Credit: Sony.

Review –

So to be honest right from the start this was a bit of a surprise. It has not been a good year for remakes in 2017, for example, The Mummy (see review) or the Ghost in the Shell (see review) all fell a bit flat on release. Add to this, it has been over twenty years since the first film, and all the information in the lead up to its release did not display Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle in a flattering light at all. Indeed, it felt like this was going to be another case of reheating an old franchise rather than trying to do something new, and we are getting a bit tired of this. However, none of this came to pass, instead what we got was a fun romp through the jungle, with superb casting, and sense of knowing exactly what it wanted to do and succeeding in it.

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