Tag Archives: movies

Desperation Road – Movie Review

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TL;DR – An exploration of the enduring legacy of trauma and the damage it can leave if you can get past one particular plot point.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I was sent a screener of this film.

Warning – Contains scenes that may cause distress.

Warning – Contains scenes including flashing lights.

Maben runs with her daughter.

Desperation Road Review –

Today, we come into a film with more than a bit of trepidation. On the one hand, we have Garrett Hedlund, whose work I have generally enjoyed and whose Tron Legacy lives rent-free in my brain. However, then we have Mel Gibson, who was once a force of nature, but when I last saw him in The Continental, he was an anchor that held the entire production back, though to be fair, that was not the show’s only issue. How is this dichotomy going to work? Well, it turns out the answer was Willa Fitzgerald.    

So, to set the scene, Maben (Willa Fitzgerald) and her daughter Analee (Pyper Braun) hit hard times as they made their way on foot to Mississippi. But when a police officer sexually assaults Maben, and then she shoots him in self-defence. This is bad, really bad. Meanwhile, Russell (Garrett Hedlund) is just getting off a bus from jail when he gets a beat down, with a promise that his debt is not paid. After a chat and a gun pick from his father Mitchell (Mel Gibson), he heads home to find a recently renovated house, now with no windows and glass everywhere. These two worlds are about to collide explosively because there are few secrets in a small town.    

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Control – Movie Review

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TL;DR – While it has an intriguing concept at its heart, some serious technical issues and casting choices torpedo what could have been an engaging narrative.

Rating: 2 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is an audio sting at the end of the credits.

Disclosure – I was sent a screener of this film.

Stella looking into the camera.

Control Review –

Today, we are looking at a film that feels very in the now. It is looking at self-driving cars and the potential loss of control when we hand security over to technology for our own comfort. There is a lot of scope to do something interesting with that scenario that is not working in the bombast seen in films like The Fate of the Furious.

So to set the scene, after a long meeting and press, Prime Minister David Addams (Mark Hampton) lets Home Secretary Stella Simmons (Lauren Metcalfe) take his daughter Evie (Eire Farrell) home. Of course, things are slightly awkward because David and Stella are having a very public affair. It should be a simple trip, that is, until someone hijacks Stella’s self-driving car. There is a voice (Kevin Spacey) who is very unhappy with Stella and now has complete control over her vehicle.     

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Kung Fu Panda 4 – Movie Review

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TL;DR – While it is always lovely to see Jack Black back in this role, unfortunately, the outing, while still fun, did not have the energy of the previous entries.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

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

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

Po sitting under a flowering peach tree trying to meditate.

Kung Fu Panda 4 Review –

One of the joys you get is when you have a solid franchise that hits on every entry. A company that does that generally quite well is DreamWorks. Sure, not everything is a Shrek, and occasionally you get a Shrek 4, but they are always entertaining and occasionally you get a How to Train Your Dragon. In that space were the Kung Fu Panda films, which I thoroughly enjoyed, so I was excited to see we were getting a new one, if only for Jack Black’s energy alone.   

So to set the scene, it has been some time since Po (Jack Black) took on the full mantle of Grand Master at the end of Kung Fu Panda 3, and he is now defending the Valley of Peace by himself as The Furious Five leave to follow personal missions. It is in this space that Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman) informs Po that he must choose his new successor as Dragon Warrior. Po does not want to give up the mantle that he has worked so hard for and become the spiritual leader of the valley. However, when word gets to him that Tai Lung (Ian McShane) has returned and is causing havoc, Po knows an adventure when he hears it. Thankfully, Po has a new guide in Zhen (Awkwafina) to help him tackle the real threat, the sorceress Chameleon (Viola Davis).

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The Moon Thieves (The Moon Thi4v3s, Dao yue zhe, 盜月者) – Movie Review

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TL;DR – While the plot will not be a great surprise to anyone who has watched a heist film before, the cast makes it a fun ride.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There are mid-credit scenes.

Disclosure – I paid to see this film.

The interior of a watch.

The Moon Thieves Review –

Long-time readers will know that I love a good heist film, the set-up, the mission when it all goes to pot. However, I have seen how many Western filmmakers have explored the genre, and that is just a tiny section of the filmmaking community. Today, we will start fixing this by looking at a film out of Hong Kong about the surprising world of counterfeit watches.

So, to set the scene, Vincent Ma (Edan Lui) is known in the counterfeit business as someone who creates frankenwatches. These are watches made from original parts but cobbled together for many different watches. This is a lucrative, if dangerous business, even more so when he is called upon by the local crime lord Uncle (Keung To), who is the son of the original Uncle but kept the name. Uncle needs Vincent and Chief (Louis Cheung) to put a group together to replace and steal three precious Picasso watches that have been found in Tokyo. Vincent does not want to do this, but he has no choice. But then, this introduction to a broader criminal world might be just what he needs for his ultimate goal: to find the lost Moon Watch, the first watch worn on the Moon by Buzz Aldrin.

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Damsel – Movie Review

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TL;DR – While a bit messy in places, strong casting and a solid central premise combine to make a fascinating film at times.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I paid for the Netflix service that viewed this film.

Shadows encroach over the kingdom.

Damsel Review –

I have always loved a good schlocky fantasy film. One that knows its premise and its voice and excels from there. It is in this space that we get gems like The Mummy and Dungeons and Dragons. Today, we are looking at a film that is trying to capture that kind of energy and see if they can pull it off.   

So to set the scene, we open in as a platoon of knights crawl into a dragon’s (Shohreh Aghdashloo) lair, hoping to slay the beast before ending in a conflagration of flames. Centuries later, in a faraway land on the verge of ruin lives Elodie (Millie Bobby Brown), a princess. It is at this dark moment when an envoy from the Kingdom of Aurea arrives looking for Elodie’s hand in marriage for their prince. This marriage would give Elodie’s kingdom enough resources to make it to the thaw. As the family arrives at Aurea, its wealth greets them, and also a sense that not everything is as it seems, for the mountains behind the kingdom cast long shadows.

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Mr. & Mrs. Smith: Season 1 – TV Review

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TL;DR – This fascinatingly compelling series that took the essence of the film and then turned everything up to eleven while providing a slightly more plausible scenario.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Amazon Prime service that viewed this series.

End Credit Scene – Infidelity & A Breakup have mid-credit scenes.

Donald Glover & Maya Erskine

Mr. & Mrs. Smith Review –

If you are of my age, then you know about the cultural moment that was Mr. & Mrs. Smith even if you never watched the film. I did get to watch the movie at the time, and it was funny, entertaining, and incredibly hot. However, that was such a moment in pop culture history that, understandably, no one has attempted to take another stab at it before now. But after a troubled production, can the show reach the heights of where it came from? I would say yes. 

So to set the scene, we open in a small house in the middle of nowhere. It is here where John Smith (Alexander Skarsgard) and Jane Smith (Eiza Gonzalez Reyna) are enjoying a glass of wine until an unannounced car arrives and kills the both of them. Later, we see two anonymous people going through the application process to join an independent spy agency. This application process is about finding a compatible partner as well as seeing if they are a good fit for the agency. But as John (Donald Glover) and Jane (Maya Erskine) Smith settle into their new brownstone in New York, they soon discover just how intense this job can be. We will be looking at the season as a whole from here, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead.

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Kill Me If You Dare (Zabij Mnie, Kochanie) – Movie Review

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TL;DR – It is an incredibly silly film, but if that is the vibe you are after, then it nails it.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I paid for the Netflix service that viewed this film.

A knife falls to the floor.

Kill Me If You Dare Review –

I think there is one thing that is almost universal across most cultures: what would you do if you won the lottery, or as we call it here, the lotto? Just asking that question probably provoked a number of thoughts as to what you would do with such a large amount of money. But what would you do if you were married and things were not as good as they could be?

So to set the scene, we open in this grand romantic gesture as Piotr (Mateusz Banasiuk) races to catch Natalia (Weronika Ksiązkiewicz) before she leaves on the train. But while he misses the train, he does not miss the love of his life, and he instantly proposes. Five years later, the love is not as strong as it once was, but maybe a shock lotto win might change that. Well, perhaps not if each other thinks the other wants to murder them and take the money for themselves.

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Force of Nature: The Dry 2 – Movie Review

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TL;DR – There is a solid film in here; you just need to find it through all the messiness.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I paid to watch this film.

The Victorian bush.

Force of Nature: The Dry 2 Review –

Back in 2020, there was a great moment when, thanks to the current circumstances, The Dry, Penguin Bloom, and High Ground were the top films in Australia, the first time in an age that three Australian films had managed that. Of those, there was one that was primed for a sequel, and that is what we are looking at today.

So to set the scene, it is a wet and cold morning as four women crash through the bush of the Giralang Ranges to the sound of a coming car. Jill Bailey (Deborra-Lee Furness), Beth (Sisi Stringer), Bree (Lucy Ansell) & Lauren (Robin McLeavy) are cold, wet, and hurt, but all the more importantly, they are missing one of their group, Alice (Anna Torv). It is a dense forest, and searching it will be difficult, but as we discover, Alice is an informant, and her last phone call to Aaron Falk (Eric Bana) was profoundly concerning, making people wonder just what happened up on that mountain.    

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Ashes (Kül) – Movie Review

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TL;DR – A film that does a fantastic job of setting up a world and mystery that unfortunately can’t sustain itself all the way to the end.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

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

Disclosure – I paid for the Netflix service that viewed this film.

Warning – Some scenes may cause distress.

The manuscript Kül.

Ashes Review –

Today, we dive back into the world of romance but with a side of danger as we explore Turkish cinema for the first time properly on the site. Romance films can be fascinating because they can meld and merge into so many different genres and take on a broad scope of tone. In today’s film, we dive into the harder edge of the genre, where danger awaits.

So to set the scene, from all appearances, Gökçe (Funda Eryigit) is living her best life. She is a successful publisher with a talent for picking good manuscripts, something that has made her husband Kenan (Mehmet Günsür) fabulously wealthy. But her life feels like it is missing something, missing a lot of things. But when a manuscript called Kül arrives, she is immediately transported into its prose. Being captured by its narrative, it awakens a joy that she had not realised was missing. But when she discovers the bakery in the book is real, and more of the book is real, she hunts down the mysterious man.

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Badland Hunters (Hwang-ya/황야) – Movie Review

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TL;DR – While some moments hit hard, it felt like we had a world that was only ankle-deep deep, and you really wished you could dive in.

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 destruction of Seoul.

Badland Hunters Review –

The thing that makes the post-apocalypse setting such an excellent world to explore is that you can explore human stories without the frameworks that hold everything in place. But if you are going to dive into that world, you need to bring something to the table.

So to set the scene, a scientist, Yang Gi-su (Lee Hee-joon), was involved in many unethical experiments in an attempt to bring back his daughter. However, just as the authorities reach him, Seoul is struck with an earthquake so severe that it destroys most buildings and leaves much of the Korean Peninsular a barren wasteland. If you are lucky, you will find a place to barter on what food and water is left. If you are unlucky, you will see yourself set upon by cannibals. Nam-san (Ma Dong-seok) and Choi Ji-wan (Lee Jun-young) work as hunters bringing food to the local settlement, but when people kidnap Han Su-na (Roh Jeong-eui) with a bad habit of not dying, well, that is not on.   

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