California Schemin: James McAvoy’s Most Depressing Film?

Remember McAvoy has a great film called Filth wherein he kills himself right as he has a chance for happiness and it’s too late to save him. Remember that when I tell you this is more depressing.

It is harrowing to see how much these people are disregarded for being from Scotland and how much they hate their lives in Scotland. As the duo gain fame whilst pretending to be American the film does the standard biopic trend of having them lose their way due to drink and drugs. We then see the band breakup and one of the two boys try and kill themselves. Like I said a positive and happy times this is not.

McAvoy steals the scenes he’s in and is a force of nature giving off a Scottish Vinnie Jones type of vibe. As a director he does a component job and manages the pace of the film well, you can see shades of Boyle and later Loach in his style.

Overall, whilst not an enjoyable film due to the subject matter, it is a well made film.

2.5/5

Pros.

The camera work and overall style of the film

The pace

It shines a life on non glamorised Scotland

Cons.

It is depressing

It recycles musical biopic tropes

James Corden

City of the Dead: Witches In Americas Foggiest Small Town

This film has a keen sense of style, it’s gothic aesthetic particularly the town of Whitewood are quite memorable particularly when compared to modern films.

The witch lore is fairly standard stuff but everyone is having enough fun and being silly with it so it feels hammy in a good way.

The main criticism of the film would be that the “good” characters, are actually quite horrible. The brother and boyfriend who both go after the lead to try and help her out treat her like she’s not a person and so it is hard to root for them during the film’s third act.

Overall, fun but let down my poor protagonists.

3/5.

Pros.

The aesthetic

The horror

The hamminess

Cons.

The heroes are not heroes

It is too short

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Cinema Issues: The National Democratisation Of Cinema

In this edition of Cinema Issues we are talking about the rise of international cinema.

For a long time Hollywood has been a dominant box office force, this has led to them becoming an out of touch echo chamber where they think they can tell people how to live and think. In terms of cultural imperialism this was doubly true, a lot of world markets struggled to maintain cinema industries or their own as their narrative offerings were often torn apart by the American studio films.

However Hollywood seems sick, maybe that sickness is coming from one ruling class of people who cannot see the culture has changed and that people want something different. Maybe that sickness is coming from the sea of nepo babies and diversity hires who don’t understand how to make good films anymore, or the focus groups they use to test films. One thing is for true and it is that Hollywood is in decline the box office is shrinking in the west and more and more studio fare is flopping.

In this climate Indian Cinema, Chinese Cinema and Japanese Cinema are all stepping in and achieving greater and greater success not just in their own markets but globally, including in the US market. People are starting to see Hollywood for what it is and move away move to these other things that are offering something fresh.

Many American productions are also moving abroad which in turn is moving resources and people out of California.

The world is shifting whether Hollywood likes it or not.

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The Mummy: Not As Much Blackface As You’d Expect

Hammer Horror films are some of our favourites, of course this is a classic Hammer film in all that would entail. Peter Cushing does a good job in the lead, you buy him as an adventurer but also can see just how much fighting the mummy puts him at a disadvantage.

The focus on Egyptology is interesting, Egypt works so well in terms of horror it is surprising we don’t see more Mummy or Egyptian themed horror films.

The central issue with the film is that they give screen time to these side characters, such as the cart drivers, and these scenes play for must a bit too long which effect the pace of the film.

Overall, a fun film with an interesting mythology, but one that wastes time with side characters.

3.5/5

Pros

The mythology

The performances

The Hammer Charm

Egyptology

Cons.

The pacing/padding for time

The horror could be stronger

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Undertone: A24 doing A24

Summary: a podcaster starts experiencing the demonic.

When A24 first started out they were a breath of fresh air and prepared to take chances, this shows that even the freshest air can quickly turn stale. Not only does this film borrow heavily from other demonic possession films it also has a lot of A24isms.

If you wanted to make a drinking game out of it, you’d say random shots of different things with symbolism, a young diverse protagonist, and the idea of depth without actually giving any. Quickly Neon is taking over the horror game. If you have ever watched a horror film before you’ll know exactly where this is going from the start.

A confusing moment was that it was demon who was causing all of the protagonist trouble over the course of the film, yet the film kept trying to imply it was the mother of the lead who was the malevolent force. She would be used for a number of the behind you sort of scares, but at the end of the day she wasn’t evil at all.

Overall, fairly generic art house fare.

2.5/5

Pros.

The use of backwards lyrics to children’s songs was an interesting idea

A few good scares

The pacing

Cons.

You’ve seen it before

A number of the scares don’t land and feel incredibly oblivious

The performances aren’t good

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Cinema Issues: Is Woke Dead?

In this edition of cinema issues we are discussing the broader progressive movement in films and tv and checking it’s pulse.

So before we get into it a quick highlight reel, the Acolyte was canned after one season, Starfleet Academy was cancelled, Doctor Who had series worst views, lost its deal with Disney and now is in limbo beyond a Christmas special, the Rings of Power has been a huge failure and has lost millions of viewers season on season, the Wheel of Time was cancelled, the Witcher was aborted.

It is pretty safe to say being an overly progressive show or film isn’t safe anymore, there is a question to be made that it never was, but now it is definitely for the chopping block. Audiences across the board have rejected things like Snow White and Tron 3, and are sick and tired of media preaching progressive views at people.

The thing is they did this to themselves they suffered from what we called California Syndrome wherein they believe they are modern day saints or apostles preaching the progressive bible and must stick it into everything. This is what happens when an echo chamber forms and any other form of thought is labelled toxic and removed. Even once safe brands like Marvel have started flopping, last year marvel made 3 films each flopped. One side stepped the natural successor to Cap and had Falcon take his place so they could go look we have a black Captain America, the next was a team up focusing on mental health, the final was a Sue Storm origin film that showed that strong women are the real heroes. All of them lost money.

The question this piece asks is it over? No is the answer. The fact remains that the people in the industry still ascribe to the Californian Creed and will still try to push for it, the only difference will be that the money people will tell them no, and they’ll be forced to either do their own stuff or scale it back. So whilst the tide is reversing the battles are not done. The fact is you can still see vestiges of it in new releases, remember these projects often take years to make and so are not reflective of the current alignment. Look at two big releases this summer, Masters of the Universe wherein they are making a Barbie Doll for a masculine franchise and the lead is saying he is borrowing from traditional masculinity and femininity. This shows you it’s still there. Additionally look at Supergirl wherein the lead has already 3 months before release gone on the war path to scream that anyone who doesn’t like the film is a sexist and that men think they own women’s bodies. As you can see the sickness is still there, the idea of entitlement that they are deserving of having people watch, the idea of attacking fans, the idea of wrong think and punishing people for it, is still very much alive in Hollywood.

It appears there is a growing split between studio heads, the people with the money and the talent. In many ways this is going to get worse and will lead to the wider use of AI to remove the creatives. The studio heads can see the writing on the wall and want a pull back from progressive nonsense, Bob Iger said this ages ago, but the talent still wants to virtue signal. The only way to reach them is to make sure their offers of work dry up by not watching their projects.

It’s a shame now we live in an era wherein you have to look up an actors politics before you watch a film with them in, to go oh do they hate white people, straight people or the Jews, as these are the only groups Hollywood is allowed to go after now. Sadly actors and creatives moved away from the idea of not wanting them as a person to interfere with the project and felt the need to seek praise online by agreeing with every progressive cause they could , they openly hate you.

The issue truly is that they didn’t realise it was us that cut their checks.

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You Me And Tuscany: The Segregated Rom-Com

In the marketing before this film came out, they said it was important it did well in order to see more “black rom-coms”. Why do films have to be based on race? You never heard anyone talk about white rom-coms. They could have just said the future of rom-coms depends on this film instead but no, they made it segregationist, this is a black film made for a black audience, as they have vocalised.

If you aren’t part of that group you feel that going into the film. Whilst the film plays like a fairly genic rom-com of old, that isn’t very funny, you can’t shake the feeling that you have just seen it all before.

Halle Bailey may be a good singer, we can’t confirm that, but her foray into acting can be described as wooden at best, when comparing her in the Little Mermaid and then here this woodness becomes a staple and not one a one off performance.

Overall, if you felt like Anyone But You was too “white” and you can only watch a film starring people who look like you then this film might be for you. However, if you’re a normal well adjusted person then you’ll just find this a forgettable rom-com.

1/5.

Pros.

Its short

Cons.

You get the strong feeling it isn’t for you

It’s generic

Halle Bailey can’t act

It’s boring

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Daredevil Born Again Mid Season Breakdown: Stop Hitting It It’s Already Dead

So we defended Born Again season one when people said it was trying to be anti Trump and comment on current events, we said people were reading into it. However, at this point in the season it seems we were wrong.

Whether it is Kingpin’s red tie that he likes to wear, or the I.C.E-esque raids that are being sent in to look for Superheros in various parts of New York it is very clear they are trying to do social commentary. Daredevil is a fictional show set in a fictional world, no one wants Trump’s bad narratives in the show.

Moreover, whilst it is nice to see Jessica Jones back, we are big Krysten Ritter fans here,we wish she was given more to do. At the moment she is just there to provide sarcastic colour commentary.

Another point that is becoming increasingly clear is that this isn’t really a Daredevil show it is every other characters show and Daredevil is just sort of kind of there as well. They really are making Matt take a back seat throughout the whole of the season so far.

We won’t score this as we’ll wait for the whole season to be out for that, but at this mid season sort of point the second season doesn’t not look like it’s heading anywhere good.

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Cinema Issues: What Happened To Kids Movies

In this Cinema Issues article we are talking about the recent spate of soulless kids movies. This isn’t about any one film or even one studio but a broader issue.

There are still some kids films that manage to bring heart into their films, and that manage to feel deep rather than shallow and without personality but by and large this is an exception to the rule.

Kids films used to have substance to them and be more than just references and loud noises, they would stick to universal themes and not try and force in left wing activism, they would have stuff for adults as well as kids, rather than seemingly pitching stories that only adults would get.

It feels as though a lot of these films aren’t even aimed at kids anymore, for example Hoppers had a plot about environmental activism and a mechanism around body hopping kids wouldn’t understand that. These films market with the idea of oh look small animals to appeal to kids but when the film starts there is far more too it that just goes over the kids head.

As we’ve said time and again, almost all of these things can be traced back to two things. One due to the rise of short form content a lot of these films think they don’t have to work on good narratives and can instead just throw quick moments or scenes together to keep child engagement. Alternatively, you have the fact that the goal with a lot of films, not just kids films, for a long time has been to push politics not to actually entertain. There is the idea that if you push progressive content into kids films it’s will get them to normalise these ideas and embrace them as they age. This isn’t true and is pretty creepy to begin with.

If you have kids honestly these days the better bet is to get a steaming service and put on animated films of yore, back when they had to try and back before they needed to shove left wing messaging into everything.

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Cinema Issues: Marvel Doubles Down On Slop

So Daredevil has been sidelined in his own show. Certain members of the cast have already come out to disparage and name call the audience.

The Punisher will be a lot less brutal and almost comedic in Brand New Day

And Peter Parker is second fiddle to the community within Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man.

Can you feel that the last vestige of a brand are dying.

So the head of Marvel TV has been taking, and boy has he shown he shouldn’t be in a job. He has renewed Wonder Man for season 2, because of DEI , or maybe because it was given a two season order but this is despite the fact it was the least watched Disney + show. More people watched Echo. He claims it’s because people loved the show the numbers don’t reflect that.

Then in terms of Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man he said it is about a community telling a community tale. We’re sorry we thought it was a Spider-Man show. Also which community only has white people as villains outside of Peter and feels the need to have every single race and ethnicity ticked off on a list.

They have renewed Marvel Zombies for a season 2, that was a show we were excited for before it just became a girl boss show and a way for them to continue to include Riri despite the God awful ratings for that show.

Marvel’s efforts with Disney + have been what’s taken the brand from the heights of End Game to where we are now. Yes they made some bad films, but by and large it has been the terrible Disney + shows that have inflicted the mortal blows on the brand.

Last year the MCU released 3 films, Captain Falcon the Brave New World, The Thunderbolts, which we liked, and Fantastic Four. All of them lost money. As for Disney + you had Daredevil which was met with collective disappointment, except from us though season 2 has taken us there as well, Iron Heart, Wonder Man, Eyes of Wakanda, Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man, and Marvel Zombie non of which had any cultural staying power. Pandering hard to the black community and to women, who don’t traditionally watch a lot of superhero fare doesn’t appear to be giving them the audience they want.

Never fear when in doubt just keep doing the same thing and expect different results, the definition of insanity. Born Again season leans into overt left wing messaging and relegates Daredevil, they green light season two of Wonder Man despite the terrible ratings, Punisher, a character fans actually liked is neutered.

At this point I think Doomsday will be big but nowhere near the levels of Infinity War or End Game not even close. I think years of alienating the audience calling fans toxic, and making the projects you want to make rather than what audiences ask for has come around to bite. They did it to themselves.

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