Inside Out 2 – Movie Review

TL;DR – It is an oddly fascinating film that might be more important for parents to watch than the kids it is targeted at.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is a mid and post-credit scene.

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

Warning – Contains scenes of intensity.

Joy at the consul.

Inside Out 2 Review

Back when we first started TL: DR Movie Reviews, one of the first films we looked at was a seemingly benign kid’s film that emotionally broke me and left me openly weeping in the cinemas. Inside Out was Peak-Pixar and part of that wave of cinematic greatness that included greats like Coco, Bao, and even the more recent Luca. It had a wonderfully original story with a genuine heart behind it. Well, it has been an age, but a sequel is now here, and it is time to see if it hits as hard as the first outing.

So to set the scene, since we last met Riley (Kensington Tallman), she has grown up, met new friends (Sumayyah Nuriddin-Green & Grace Lu), and started forming core beliefs to help guide her life, all while her emotions Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Anger (Lewis Black), Fear (Tony Hale), and Disgust (Liza Lapira) all help her through the day. Well, when Coach Roberts (Yvette Nicole Brown) asks Riley and her friends to come to the high school summer hockey camp, it is everything Riley has ever dreamed about. The only problem is the night before they leave, that big red puberty alarm goes off, her mind is in chaos, and oh, who is that new emotion?

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Man of Steel (2013) Review – Exploring the Past

TL;DR –. It’s a generally sound foundation, even if it falls apart a bit at the end.   

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-Credit Scene.

Superman floating in the water.

Man of Steel Review –

As the DCEU came to an end, I found myself with some unfinished business. I had watched and reviewed every movie in the franchise, bar one, the film that started it all. Well, it is time to fix that oversight as we jump back into the opening salvo of the Snyderverse, a foundation that might not have ever reached its intended zenith but is still worth exploring.

So to set the scene, we open with Lara Lor-Van (Ayelet Zurer) in hard labour as her husband, Jor-El (Russell Crowe), looks on. It is a healthy child, something to celebrate if it was not so dyer. For you see, Kypton is falling apart, and just when things are at their worst, Zod (Michael Shannon) makes a move on the throne. But while there is still hope, Jor-El makes his escape and makes it home just in time to launch his lifeboat and save his only son. It was a fraught trip, but the pod managed to make it to Earth and land in a little town called Smallville, Kansas, USA.

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Let Him Go (Let Him Go: Fight For Family) – Movie Review

TL;DR –  A film that explores tension at every moment that leaves you sitting on the edge of your seat as it all falls apart.   

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

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

Warning – Contains scenes of abuse

Awards:

NominatedBeautiful Cinematography, The Emotion, All The Tension & Fascinating Worldbuilding.

Let Him Go (Let Him Go: Fight For Family). Image Credit: Universal Pictures.

Let Him Go Review

It has been a while since a film has had me sat on the edge of my seat as the tension overwhelmed me. Well, today, we look at just such a movie that I was honestly struggling to find the right genre to categorise it. It is sort of a western but not, it is sort of a noir film but not, a detective hunt but not. But whatever it is, it was engaging from start to finish.

So to set the scene, we open in on a family in a full happy mode as they get ready for the day.  James Blackledge (Ryan Bruce) is out working breaking in a horse as his father George (Kevin Costner) watches on. Back in the homestead, his mother Margaret (Diane Lane) is making breakfast while his wife Lorna (Kayli Carter) is trying to corral their new baby. As James takes out the horse for a ride, everyone is working together, that is until the horse comes back without its rider. Three years later, Lorna is re-marring Donnie Weboy (Will Brittain), and she and her little one Jimmy (Bram Hornung/ Otto Hornung) go to move in with him. Much to the consternation of Margret and George, that is only elevated when one day Lorna and Donnie skip town without telling and take Jimmy along with them.

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Movie Review – Justice League

TL;DR – Is it as good as Wonder Woman, no not by a long shot, but it is also not the steaming mess like the last two films, so there has been some improvement here.

Score – 2.5 out of 5 stars

P.S. – There is a mid and end credit scene.

Justice League. Image Credit: Warner Bros.

Review

Ok before we start I need to say that this is actually a very hard film to review because while it shouldn’t matter, you can’t avoid not looking into the issues this film had in pre-production. Firstly, you have the disastrous reaction to both Batman v Superman (see review) and Suicide Squad (see review) hitting after production had already started, and you can see the course correction that they tried to make here. But also during production Zach Snyder’s family suffered a great tragedy and he stepped aside which meant that the reshoots and final edit was completed by Joss Whedon. So it is hard to work out where to direct criticism, but also you don’t want to heap stuff on someone who has suffered greatly. So will all this groundwork I will try my best to be objective here but you can’t help but bring outside stuff into this.

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Movie Review – Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice

TL;DR – An utter mess of a film, disjointed, nonsensical, and a very poor foundation for DC to build their Justice League series on

Score – 2 out of 5 stars

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Image Credit: Warner Bros.

Review

You know I wanted to be surprised by Batman v Superman, it looked rushed, it looked like they had not given enough thought before rushing ahead with their Avengers competition, it looked like they were making all the same mistakes Sony made with Spiderman, but still, I wanted to like it, but alas this is an incoherent mess of a film with only momentary glimpses of being any good. To get us started, Batman v Superman starts with us experiencing the climax of the last film from Bruce Wayne’s (Ben Affleck) perspective, we then jump forward to two years later where a bat vigilante is attacking criminals in Gotham across the bay from Metropolis, Lois Lane (Amy Adams) is in Africa being the damsel in distress (a role she will be stuck in for this film) and everyone else is politely pretending that Clark Kent and Superman (Henry Cavill) are not the same person.

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