We Have a Ghost – Movie Review

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.     

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Violent Night – Movie Review

TL;DR – The sleigh bells ring as Santa takes out one henchman after another.    

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is a mid-credit scene

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

Santa and his reindeer.

Violent Night Review

Some concepts for a film intrigue you by their very existence. For example: what if Santa must carve his way through a pile of mercenaries to save a young girl who truly believes in him? A concept that answers once and all the question ‘is Die Hard a Christmas film?’ by straight up making it one. Well, that is a film that gets my immediate attention.

So to set the scene, Santa (David Harbour) is getting wasted in a bar in Bristol, England. The constant consumerism of Christmas is wearing him down, and this might be his final year. Meanwhile, in Greenwich, Connecticut, Linda (Alexis Louder) is picking up Jason (Alex Hassell) so that their daughter Trudy (Leah Brady), can have a normal Christmas. Well, as normal as you can when you are separated, and you are part of one of the wealthiest families in America under the all-seeing eyes of matriarch Gertrude (Beverly D’Angelo). But as Santa arrives at the house to drop off Trudy’s presents, Mr Scrooge (John Leguizamo) and his gang storm the house, kill the staff and take the whole family hostage. There is $300 million on the line, and now Santa is stuck in the middle of it.

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Black Widow – Movie Review

TL;DR – A film with a great cast, strong banter, engaging action, but the third act does not capitalise on all these.     

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is a post-credit scene

Disclosure – I paid to see this film.

Black Widow. Image Credit: Marvel Studios.

Black Widow Review

Back when Spider-Man: Far From Home came out in July 2019, I don’t think anyone knew just how long it would be before we got another Marvel film up on the big screen. Well, just over two years later, it is time to dive back into this world by going back to a time just after Civil War.

So to set the scene, we begin our film in the deep dark days of the far past, the 1990s. In Ohio, we are introduced to a completely average family, normal except for the fact that it is entirely manufactured and the father Alexei Shostakov (David Harbour) and mother Melina Vostokoff (Rachel Weisz) are Russian spies. They are here to steal secrets from SHIELD (well, HYDRA pretending to be SHIELD). One emergency flight to Cuba and the family is split up and forced into the Soviet machine. Years later, Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) is now on the run after Civil War, and it just so happens to be time for a family reunion.  

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Extraction – Movie Review

TL;DR – A solid action film from start to finish   

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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

Awards

Nominated: Explosive Action
Winner: Explosive Action

Extraction. Image Credit: Netflix.

Extraction Review

Today I begin my power shot through the films that I missed this year, these will be shorter reviews than usual, as I have a lot to get through in preparation for my best-of list. We begin with an action film that is both very old fashioned but also refreshing in some way.

So to set the scene, In Delhi Ovi Mahajan (Rudhraksh Jaiswal) is being a usual teenager going out with friends and visiting clubs right up until police officer kills his friend and takes him hostage. Ovi’s father is Ovi Mahajan Sr (Pankaj Tripathi) a major drug lord in India and is currently incarcerated. The boy was kidnapped by Amir Asif (Priyanshu Painyuli) a competitor from Dhaka, Bangladesh. With time being short, the boy’s family hires extraction expert Tyler Rake (Chris Hemsworth) to save his life and well things don’t go to plan.

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Movie Review – Frankenstein’s Monster’s Monster, Frankenstein

TL;DR – Absurdist and silly, and while the mockumentary is fun at the start it does feel like it never quite came together.     

Score – 3 out of 5 stars

Post-Credit Scene – There is a post-credit scene

Frankenstein's Monster's Monster, Frankenstein. Image Credit: Netflix.

Review

Well let me tell you a story, we have a famous actor creating a mockumentary of a fictional ancestor that he also plays, and we are going to jump back and forth between him finding out things today and a pretend performance of a televised play in the 60s. This is a truly bonkers scenario, but that is the one we have with us today as we explore Frankenstein’s Monster’s Monster, Frankenstein.

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TV Review – Stranger Things: Trick or Treat, Fool

TL;DR – Today we learn that even when people are not the worst, they can still disappoint you

Score – 4 out of 5 stars

Stranger Things

Review

It’s Halloween in the quaint town of Hawkins, and with the season there is a time for everything,
a time to make friends and a time to lose them,
a time to make promises and a time to forget them,
a time to get dressed into costume and a time to realise maybe don’t do that at school,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to say hello to a girl in the woods and a time to get hit in the head with a half-cooked squirrel,
a time to reach out and a time to miss the response,
a time to be bold and a time to run away from the all oppressive shadow in the sky,
a time to forget the past and a time to be defined by it,
a time to hold on for dear life and a time to let go,
a time to eat Eggo Waffles™ and a time to channel surf,
a time to wear all denim and a time to do literally any other fashion choice
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.
a time to come together as a team and a time to be just the absolute worst, I mean come on Ted (Joe Chrest) The Russians, really, get it together.

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TV Review – Stranger Things: MADMAX

TL;DR – It is a joy to be back in the world, because there is an attention to detail and understanding that you just do get very often

Score – 4 out of 5 stars

Stranger Things

Review

Oh Stranger Things, you were a revelation in Season One (see review), with an amazing cast and intertwining storylines that even with starkly different tones it still worked together as a whole. As well as this, it nailed both the films it was paying homage to, and the 1980s in general. So it has been just over a year since Season One, so today we will jump in and start our look at Season Two, and please be prepared as there may be some [SPOILERS] in this review.

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Movie Review – Suicide Squad

TL;DR – Sigh, oh DC, it really looked like you tried on this movie, but boy the best that you can do is an aggressively mediocre outing that adds nothing to the franchise, and as a self-contained film – well you can do a lot worse, but you can also do a lot better.

Score – 2 out of 5 stars

P.S. There is a mid-credits scene

Suicide Squad. Image Credit: Warner Bros.

Review

When it comes to that whole DC v Marvel comics rivalry which seems to permeate the internet these days, for me this was one of those arguments that was never really a factor in my life growing up. This is because we didn’t really get the comics where I lived, but what we did get was the animated series, like X-Men and Batman, and they were not aired in competition with each other, and indeed sometimes aired on the same TV channel. So growing up you were not a DC or Marvel person, it was more “did you see that episode yesterday”, I feel I really need to start with this up front because I really want this Justice League series to work, I really do. However I don’t think Suicide Squad is the film that will do it, and in fact all it does is show that DC/WB just don’t seem to know how to get this movie series off the ground. At best it is average, and at worse it is quite problematic, but in the end it is not really all that engaging and you’ll probably forget most of it within a day of watching it.

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TV Review – Stranger Things

TL;DR –  Engaging, Emotional, Tense, and about the most 80s thing you could ever watch, but boy should you ever watch it.

Score – 4.5/5 Stars

Stranger Things. Image Credit: Netflix.

Review

Stranger Things is a weirdly wonderful TV show, it is a complex web of 80s references, homages to films of that era, and call backs to the classics of the horror genre. All of that could have been done as a ham-fisted cash grab, banking on nostalgia over substance, *cough* Transformers *cough*, instead it is a well-crafted story with real talent, both in front and behind the camera, that draws you in at every moment. Now as I am reviewing the entire season at once there will undoubtedly be spoilers ahead, so if you have not seen Stranger Things yet, beware, and maybe come back once you have watched it.

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