Tag Archives: American Cinema

Movie Review – Underworld: Blood Wars

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TL;DR – Honestly this was a surprisingly good film, though that may have something to do with my super low expectations I had going in and that I have never seen an Underworld film before.

Score – 3 out of 5 stars

Underworld: Blood Wars. Image Credit: Sony.

Review –
I think I need to start this review off with this small issue, while I have always been meaning to watch all of these Underworld films until now I have never actually gotten around to it. You know each time a new one would come out in cinemas, I would endeavour to marathon the ones I missed and then watch the new movie, but alas I never actually ever got around to it. Also then Twilight was released and that killed any drive I might have had to watch the battle of werewolves and vampires. However it’s been four years since the last entry so this time instead of making the commitment to marathon the previous films I went blow it, let’s just go for it and see how good it is going in blind. I wanted to make that clear because not only did I come to Underworld: Blood Wars without seeing any of the previous films, I also come to it with really low expectations, like Leo McGarry going to a vice-presidential debate low. But despite this (or likely because of it), I have to say I was quite surprised how well I actually enjoyed Blood Wars. I mean let’s be clear here, this is not a cinematic masterpiece, but it is the best of this type of film I have seen in quite a while.

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Movie Review – The Accountant

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TL;DR – When people ask me what a close but no cigar film is I will now be able to use The Accountant as my go-to example, it’s an ok film, but it could have been so much more.

Score – 3 out of 5 stars

The Accountant. Image Credit: Warner Bros.

Review – The Accountant is a really interesting movie, it has one of the strongest cast in cinema at the moment, and has some fantastic set piece action sequences, and some really important representations. However, and I am sorry to have this however so close to the start, as a movie it just doesn’t quite work. So in this review, I am not just going to review the film, but also break down why the film just doesn’t work as well as it could have.

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Movie Review – Arrival

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TL;DR – A beautiful story of loss, change, the role of language,  and how it’s better to work together than apart, a movie we kind of need at the moment.

Score – 5 out of 5 stars

Arrival - Image Credit: Paramount Pictures

Review – Arrival, based on the short story by Ted Chiang, is a really interesting movie as it looks at issues that are not usually covered in science fiction or indeed movies in general. It is a fascinating look into language and its role in shaping culture and society but also what happens when the unknown actually happens and how do we respond to that. While I loved Arrival its one of those movies that I think will be quite polarising as you may indeed find it either meditative or ponderous, I myself fall into the first camp.

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Movie Review – Hacksaw Ridge

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TL;DR – Hacksaw Ridge might be one of the best war movies I have ever seen, stunning visuals, a strong cast and emotive storytelling, I highly recommend going to see Hacksaw Ridge

Rating: 4 out of 5.
Hacksaw Ridge. Image Credit: Lionsgate.

Review –

So here we are in 2016, the Cubs are doing well at baseball, England voted to leave the European Union, and I’m talking about a Mel Gibson directed film which may just be my film of the year … ok at this point we all just have to agree that 2016 has been a really weird year. But strange as it may be, nothing can take away from the power that is Hacksaw Ridge, it is a stunning film, but also a really emotional film, and all of that comes down to the amazing power of the cast, the work of Mel Gibson with direction, and the rest of the crew in producing such a powerful film.

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Movie Review – Doctor Strange

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TL;DR – This is visually one of the best Marvel films ever produced, strong cast, overall a great film, though I do have to say these Marvel films are starting to feel a bit safe.

Score – 4 out of 5 stars

P.S. There is a mid and end credit sequence

Doctor Strange. Image Credit: Marvel/Disney.

Review –

Well, this Marvel machine keeps on churning, earlier this year we had the fantastic Captain America: Civil War [See Review] which at the time of writing is still on track to be my film of the year, but now Marvel takes a different tack and jumps into the world of the ‘mystical’. In many respects, Doctor Strange is an interesting film because at times it is almost at arms distance from the rest of the cinematic universe, yet also it is almost the most ‘Marvel’ film Marvel has put out.

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Movie Review – Jack Reacher: Never Go Back

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TL;DR – The action is there, the characters are there, but something is just missing from this sequel that stops the film from excelling.

Score – 3 out of 5 stars

Jack Reacher: Never Go Back. Image Credit: Paramount.

Review –

So full disclosure I didn’t watch the first Jack Reacher, nor have I read the books in the series by Lee Childs, and I was kind of tired of the film before I even went to see it because you could not open a Twitch stream, nor YouTube video without having to suffer through the trailer (yep that one right above you here). So I may not have come into the film with the best mindset but then honestly I don’t think you needed to see the last film or read the book to get the narrative because the writers use the opening sequence to pretty much set up the character of Jack Reacher (Tom Cruise) and his motivations, and thankfully it is that one scene in rural America with the sheriff and a phone call that you have probably already seen over and over again and they get it out of the way right at the start. So as far as American PG-13 action films go, Jack Reacher is not bad, however, it did feel like something was missing and because of that, it fell short of being a great film.

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Movie Review – Keeping Up with the Joneses

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TL;DR – On the one hand this film does nothing new, and follows the same patterns and tropes of the genre, on the other hand, everybody commits to their roles, so it actually turns out quite good.

Score – 3.5 out of 5 stars

Keeping Up with the Joneses. Image Credit: 20th Century Fox.

Review –

When you go to a Hollywood movie that describes itself as an ‘action-comedy’ especially an American PG-13 ‘action comedy’, it tends to follow a very predictable route, characters are put into a zany situation, there will be some risqué subject material, but not too risqué, and they will drop their one F-Bomb at some point in the film and Keeping Up with the Joneses does not deviate from this at all. Indeed The Joneses fits very comfortably within the buddy-cop, or fish out of water genre, by taking two very different couples and then playing them off each other, and in that interplay hopefully some humour can be found. So the question then becomes can The Joneses solid enough film to sustain its premise for the whole film whilst still being entertaining, and well for me, I think they pulled it off.

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Movie Review – Inferno

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TL;DR – A competently produced National Treasure like film, that really hopes you don’t start thinking through the plot points too deeply.

Score – 2.5 out of 5 stars

Inferno. Image Credit: Sony.

Review –
I should start this review with a quick clarification, I have not seen any of the films in this series (The Da Vinci Code, Angels & Demons, and Inferno) nor have I read the source books, this is not because I have any dislike for books in general, indeed I have too many shelves full of them, but just honestly The Da Vinci Code never seemed to be that good. So with the third one of these films coming out and the ability to still get Tom Hanks and Ron Howard involved in something that feels like a straight to DVD release it did have me intrigued, have I misjudged this series? is there actually something here? So with this in mind, I decided to give it a watch with the worst case scenario I get something to write a rant about it. However, what I saw was not a bad film, but it’s not a good one either.

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Movie Review – Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children

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TL;DR – A solid film with intrigue and a unique premise, it is well filmed and acted, but also surprisingly reserved by the director

Score – 3.5 out of 5 stars

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. Image Credit: 20th Century Fox.

Review –

So I should start my review with the proviso that I have never read the book (though this is something I am going to fix) so I can’t tell you if Miss Peregrine’s is a good adaptation of the source material, but what I can tell you is that it is a fascinating film in its own right. I should also point out, this is probably not a film for young children, as there are a number of horror elements to it.

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Movie Review – The Magnificent Seven (2016)

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TL;DR – A truly amazing film, one of the best westerns I have seen in a very long time, great acting, great filming, and top notch action, this is one to see.

Score – 4 out of 5 stars

The Magnificent Seven. Image Credit: Sony.

Review –

Once again another remake, it seems that 2016 should be subtitled the Year of Remakes, from the ‘surprisingly ok’ Ghostbusters to the ‘why bother’ Ben-Hur, to the ‘joy that was’ Pete’s Dragon. So this week not only do we have a remake, but we have a remake of a remake with The Magnificent Seven, and how did it fair, well really quite good if you ask me.

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