Tag Archives: Film

Apocalypse Z: The Beginning of the End (Apocalipsis Z: El principio del fin) (2024) Review – Exploring the Past

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TL;DR – A solid Spanish zombie film, with good tension, a capable lead, and strong worldbuilding.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no end-credit scene.

Disclosure – I paid for the Amazon Prime service that was used to view this film.

Warning – Contains scenes which may cause distress.

Zombies swarm.

Apocalypse Z: The Beginning of the End Review Introduction

Tonight, as we are spooky season adjacent, I thought I would dip into a horror film and the new Spanish Zombie film was recommended to me. It was at that point that I remembered that I had planned to watch the first film in the series but never got around to it. Well, there is no time like the present to fix that.

So, to set the scene, it is the new year in Spain and Manel (Francisco Ortiz) and Júlia (Iria del Río) are on their way back from visiting Manel’s family when a traffic accident changes their lives. A year later, things are a bit tense as a virus has the EU thinking of closing borders. Life is moving on, as the cases are ‘contained’ in Spain, but there is fear that collapse is on the horizon, and important people are being moved out to the Canary Islands for some reason.

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The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland (1999) Review – Exploring the Past

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TL;DR – While it is a film where you do need that nostalgic hook to get the most out of it, I do have to admit there is still a charm there.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no end-credit scene.

Disclosure – I paid to view this film.

Elmo gets sucked through a portal.

The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland Review Introduction

Today I am looking at a film that was a direct request from one of my friends. Was that friend in an exhaustive haze at the end of a long convention? Probably. Will we need to dive back in time to before the Y2K bug? Yes. Have I ever watched this film before? Absolutely not.

So, to set the scene, Elmo (Kevin Clash) is looking for his blanket (it is behind him; the children yell), who is his best friend (I am not sure that is healthy). After a Blanket-Best Friend song, there is a segue to an impromptu percussion party in the laundromat. On the way home, Elmo is trying to comfort Zoe (Fran Brill) with animal impressions because she can’t go to the zoo. After a series of unfortunate events, the blanket ends up in Oscar the Grouch’s (Caroll Spinney) trashcan, and Elmo could not wait for Oscar to return home and gets accidentally sucked into Grouchland.

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Wildwood – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A stunning work of art that moved my soul.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I paid to watch this film.

Warning – Contains scenes which may cause distress.

Cherry blossoms in Portland by the river.

Wildwood Review Introduction

Today I get to talk about one of the most interesting films I have seen in an age. A film brimming with artistic talent, emotion, and an impact that with me long after the credits rolled. It is a movie that reminds me why film exists: to delight, to confront, to uplift, and to bring the tears.

So, to set the scene, Prue McKeel (Peyton Elizabeth Lee) is at that teenage age where she is trying to isolate herself from those things that seem childish because now, she is an adult, apparently. While also simultaneously rebelling against her parents’ wisdom, a juxtaposition that is only found in teenagers. Her parents (Jake Johnson & Maya Erskine) get Prue to watch her baby brother Mac (Arthur Knight), but he can not go outside. Fast-forward to Prue taking Mac on a tour around Portland, Oregon. It is a delightful day, bar the unfortunate appearance of Curtis Mehlberg (Jacob Tremblay), oh and a murder of crows stealing Mac from the playground and taking him into the Impassable Wilderness, the one place her parents told her not to go.

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Other Mommy – Movie Review

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TL;DR – Great production cannot save a profoundly hollow film from falling like a thud.

Rating: 1.5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is a post-credit sting that you do not have to stay for.

Disclosure – I paid to watch this film.

Warning – Contains scenes with flashing lights.

A soft toy vulture on the top of a ball pit.

Other Mommy Review Introduction

Today we look at a film that is an odd duality. From the outside, this is a strongly constructed movie with a strong cast, engaging editing, strong cinematography, and an interesting spin on the supernatural monster mythology. It is also an insipid, hollow, dull exercise that turns a ninety-minute film into a slog.

So, to set the scene, on the surface, the Martin family of Ursula (Jessica Chastain), Russ (Jay Duplass), and little Bela (Arabella Olivia Clark) are the perfect unit. Maybe mum works a bit too much, maybe dad should have more going on in his life beyond painting miniatures, oh, and maybe Bela should not see Other Mommy (Jessica Chastain) in her closet at night.

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The Love Hypothesis – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A very straightforward romantic comedy, with a touch more going on under the hood than you would first suspect.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I paid for the Amazon Prime subscription used to watch this film.

The gang looks in shock at a kiss.

The Love Hypothesis Review Introduction

Today we are looking at a truly interesting film. On the surface, it is a very well-executed, if straightforward, romantic comedy. Two oddball characters who have nothing in common find love through the prism of shenanigans. We have gotten Solo Mio, One Night Only, & Finding Emily with the same underlying structure this year already. However, the moment you dig even a centimetre under the surface, it becomes one of the more fascinating films I have seen all year.

So, to set the scene, Olive Smith (Lili Reinhart) is not having the best day when some expired contact lenses make her whole world blurry on the day of her graduate school interview. But disaster averted, Olive makes it into Stanford University, where she meets her bestie Anh (Rachel Marsh), her unrequited crush Jeremy (Nicholas Duvernay), and roommate Malcolm (Jaboukie Young-White), which is good because Olive is all alone in her life outside of university. The one thing Olive wants is to work in Dr Thomas Benton (Arty Froushan)’s lab, and he just let her know that he will be teaching in Stanford for the next month. It is a major opportunity, or a walking disaster waiting to happen. Which is what is happening when she cons Anh into thinking she is in a relationship, so Anh feels okay dating Jeremy, which leads to her maybe kissing ‘Dr Evil’ Dr Adam Carlsen (Tom Bateman) to keep up the ruse, and shenanigans follow as Dr Carlsen agrees to set up the pretence of a relationship for the review committee … making a love hypothesis.

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Pretty Lethal – Movie Review

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TL;DR – An absolutely solid action film that understands the visual language it wants to engage with and makes it shine.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I paid for the Amazon Prime subscription used to watch this film.

The ballerinas.

Pretty Lethal Review Introduction

I have been on the hunt for a good action film lately, and unfortunately, I have been hit by a wave of disappointments. When you are on a bad run, it is time to remove your preconceptions and try for something outside of the box and today that means dancing as if your life depended on it.

So, to set the scene, a group of ballerinas, Zoe (Iris Apatow), Princess (Lana Condor), Chloe (Millicent Simmonds), Grace (Avantika), Bones (Maddie Ziegler), and their instructor Thorna Devonport (Lydia Leonard), were on their way to a showcase in Budapest when their flight got diverted, and the transfer bus broke down in the middle of the forest 300-odd kilometres away from the capital. No service, cold and drenched from rain, they stumble into the one hotel in the little town in the mountains. A short wait for a minibus should have been fine, but when bullets start flying, it will be a fight for their lives.

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Brothers Under Fire – Movie Review

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TL;DR – This is a film that is 80% set up, and I am not sure the ending was worth it.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

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

Disclosure –I paid for the Amazon Prime subscription used to watch this film.

The five members of the platoon in a photo.

Brothers Under Fire Review Introduction

Today, we are looking at a film that I knew nothing about until it appeared on my feed, an enigma of a movie. But it was also an intriguing mystery, because it is something of an occupational hazard that I know about most films released out of America. But that mystery is a potential promise until proven otherwise.   

So, to set the scene, in Syria, east of the Al Omar mountain oil fields, an American platoon is under attack, with only a very close air strike saving them. A good thing because Alberto Castillo (Tommy Martinez) is getting married, and the whole troop, including Capt. Jordan Wright (Kiefer Sutherland), Danny Walton (Solly McLeod), Lieutenant Carson (Ashton Sanders), and Marco Hino (Laird Akeo), are invited to Columbia for the nuptials to Isabella Perez (Laura Osma). What no one realises is that the local cartel is on the move after a messy takeover of a rival organisation, and soon everyone is caught up in the storm.

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The Get Out – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A profoundly odd slow-burn film that I am not sure lands its bombastic conclusion.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I paid for the Amazon Prime subscription used to watch this film.

Russell Crowe sitting down in an yellow jumpsuit listing to headphones.

The Get Out Review Introduction

If you were going to ask who is the best export that Australia has ever given to Hollywood, then I would have to say that Russell Crowe needs to be in that conversation. If nothing else, the man is always working, bringing all of himself into the roles he plays, no matter how small or weird they may be. Today we are looking at a film that might be a good example of this, as we dive into the seedy underbelly of the Gold Coast … I mean Los Angeles.

So, to set the scene, Marco Kapak (Russell Crowe) is a man from Albania who has run a nightclub in America for decades. It was a lucrative career, until a ‘cardiac event’ stops him in his tracks at a most inopportune time. He is finally taking the advice of his girlfriend, Sunny (Teresa Palmer), to sell the nightclub and move to a nice small house in Thailand. The only problem is that Kapak has fingers in many pies, not all of them legal, and they all need to be untangled. Some of them might not want to be untangled.

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Wildcat – Movie Review

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TL;DR – It has all the building blocks for a fascinating film, but it needed some more time in the oven before it was ready. 

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I paid for the Amazon Prime subscription used to watch this film.

London burning.

Wildcat Review Introduction

Some days you feel like falling into a comfort genre, and for me, that is a solid heist film. I love the construction, the action, and the aftermath. Add in the physicality of Kate Beckinsale and Lewis Tan, set it in the London underground, and frankly you have all the foundation you need for something interesting. I hope.

So, to set the scene, there is a new gang, the Mushka, threatening the balance of power between the two former kings of London’s underground: Christina Vine (Alice Krige) and Frasier Mahoney (Charles Dance). In the middle of this brewing civil war, Ada (Kate Beckinsale) leads a team including Roman (Lewis Tan) and Edward (Rasmus Hardiker) into robbing Ms Vine’s jewel vault. Because someone has kidnapped her daughter Charlotte (Isabelle Moxley), starting the civil war might be the cover they need to get her back.   

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Heart of the Beast – Movie Review

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TL;DR – While there are times when you feel emotionally manipulated, I can’t deny that this film had a powerful effect on me, as each turn, setback, and revelation had me on the edge of my seat.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

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

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

A plane flies low over a valley.

Heart of the Beast Review Introduction

The last couple of years have been an odd time for David Ayer and me. I loved his The Beekeeper, a film that improves with each rewatching, and yet I loathed A Working Man, a film which was not improved by a repeat viewing. This was such an odd juxtaposition that was playing in my head as I sat down to watch his latest entry. But thankfully, I think we spent more time in the former than the latter territory.  

So, to set the scene, James Belmont (Brad Pitt) is a now-retired Special Forces officer who lives a quiet life with his retired combat scout dog Odin (Uber). They both live with the scars of their former life, both external and internal. One weekend, Belmont flies the two of them up into the Alaskan wilderness to camp, fish, and enjoy nature away from other humans. Some unwanted surprise company aside, it was a great trip, until a storm blows in and they have to pack up early. But when tragedy strikes on the flight home, Belmont and Odin must hike over fifty miles through the unforgiving Alaskan countryside to make it to the nearest road, the only hope for rescue.

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