San Andreas: Aggressive CPR

San Andreas is a disaster film directed by Brad Peyton. The plot follows a helicopter rescue pilot (Dwyane Johnson), as he must race to save his family from the fallout of a major earthquake.

I missed this in the cinema, and it has been on my watchlist for a long time. Generally, I am disappointed and frankly bored by disaster films, they are always the same thing repeated, but I had heard good things about this one so I decided to finally watch it, and though I would struggle to call it a good film it is far more entertaining than a lot of other genre fare.

I mean lets face it you aren’t watching this for the plot, yes I see you there. You are watching it for the spectacle and for the soothing effect of having your mind numbed for about 2 hours, as people manage to stay perfectly made up whilst dodging falling bits of buildings. The plot is an afterthought.

The narrative was nothing new at all, you and I have both seen this exact same plot play out time and time again over the years. I do genuinely believe the watchability of this film comes down to one simple factor, Dwayne Johnson’s insane levels of charm and charisma. If any other actor was in the lead role then it would not even be worth watching it would be boring, but the Rock manages to keep you engaged throughout; he is the perfect action star.

Overall, watch this if you have anything better to do or don’t want to be challenged in anyway and just want to watch the Rock smash things, (though if you want that watch Rampage instead it is a better film).

Pros.

The spectacle

The Rocks immense charm

Cons.

It is dumb

It is cliched

The ending is deeply unbelievable

2/5

Reviewed by Luke

The Family Fang: And You Thought Your Family Was Messed Up

The Family Fang is a comedy drama film directed by Jason Bateman. The plot follows the dysfunctional Fang Family as they are forced back together again, causing old issues to be readdressed. The parents of the family are performance artists who forced their children into a number of uncomfortable and awkward situations in service of their art and that has led to a hate-filled rift between the parents and the children. It is based on the novel of the same name by David Linday-Abaire.

This is Bateman’s second direction effort, he also co stars alongside Nicole Kidman, and it marks a very noticeable shift in his direction sensibilities. If you look at Bateman’s first effort Bad Words it is certainly an off colour, off key comedy film that feature dramatic elements, however it is still a comedy film first. Whereas this film is very much a drama film, with a few moments of darkly humorous relief, following this through into Ozarks you can see how Bateman is moving further and further away from traditional comedy, and is instead pushing into much darker territory.

It is with that in mind, that I advise you not to watch this film as a comedy film as that is a miscategorisation, but to understand and watch this film for the drama film it is. As a drama film this film is sublime, it examines parents and children and how the two are intertwined. Should everyone and anyone be a parent? When does it become self-serving? What can a parent do to a child and then ask for forgiveness for?

The performances from Bateman, Kidman and Christopher Walken are all terrific, they perfectly capture different elements of the broken family paradigm and reflect them outwardly. Walken particularly shines here as an antagonist, his character scenes with the kids are both heart-breaking and infuriating and strongly performed.

I find myself being reminded of Captain Fantastic

Overall, a very strong drama film miscategorised.

Pros.

The performances

The concept

The examination of the effects of parenting

Cons.

It is poorly paced

The ending doesn’t feel as satisfying as I would like

3.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

South Park Bigger Longer Uncut: Singing Songs Of Madness

South Park Bigger Longer And Uncut is an animated musical film directed by Trey Parker. The plot sees the boys become caught up in a war between the parents of South Park and the Canadian Government after the kids see the new Terrance and Phillip (Matt Stone and Trey Parker). movie and it starts to influence and impact their behaviour. There is also a subplot about Satan (Parker), and Saddam Hussain (Stone), trying to take over the world.

I am a big South Park fan and have been for a while, however, I hadn’t seen this movie before and I pretty much forget it existed, but then the other day I was scrolling through Prime and saw it and thought I would put it on and give it a go, I had mixed reactions.

Usually when adult animated shows do songs they are good, there have been many hits (at least for me), from a number of different shows including Family Guy and American Dad, South Park too has had a number of funny songs over the years, this film sadly took this and then over did it to a point of killing it. Much like in the worst kind of musicals, there was a song every few minutes in this film, most of the time the song wouldn’t even be funny it would just be explaining what was going on on-screen, which feels lazy, and felt crammed in for the sake of it. It became irritating after a while.

The comedy is strong here though and that does redeem the film somewhat, in the non-singing moments there are a number of jokes that made me laugh out loud and a few that made me chuckle. I wanted more of these and less constant repetitive songs.

Overall, making this film a musical rather than just an extended episode not only handicapped it, it killed it.

Pros

A few funny jokes

An interesting premise

Cons.

It does not justify its existences

The songs are annoying

The ending feel cheap and unearned

The multi-episode storylines of later seasons are infinitely better

2/5

Reviewed by Luke

Star Wars The Rise Of Skywalker: This Is Going To Be A Long One

Star War The Rise Of Skywalker is an epic science fiction film directed by JJ Abrams. The plot ends the Skywalker saga that has been set up by the previous films and sees the final showdown between the light side of the force and the dark side.

Where to begin with this film? Is it terrible? No. Is it in any way good? No as well. There are so many things to unpack with this film, this might be a long one.

So firstly, the opening fight scene where Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), is slicing through rebels with ease and it looks awful. The choreography of this scene is clearly supposed to make Ren look scary and powerful; however it was somewhere around the moon walk stab that I laughed out loud; it does not open the film on a good note.

Secondly, when the final order is raised, it does not look impressive rather it looks cheap and it looks as thought they had skipped out on getting good visual effects. This is recurring through the film; this is not a one-off issue.

Thirdly, the humour there is something really particularly bad about the humour. Now, I am not saying every film needs to be direly serious, but it would have been better here than what we got. This film even more so then The Last Jedi is trying and failing to replicate the MCU. We have a deadly serious scene with franchise spanning implications and then before any of the emotional impact can register bam we get a quippy joke, it is irritating.

Before I get to my final issues with this film I just want to talk about a few things this film got right.

I enjoyed some of the new characters this film set up, even if they were severely underdeveloped, I would like to see some of them come back in future films/ Disney Plus series, there is potential there.

Personally, I thought the only moment of this film that actually worked was the final battle and even then all the stuff about Rey’s (Daisy Riddley), origins ruined it a bit. The final desperate fight in this film was the only thing that actually felt like Star Wars to me, having the Rebels effectively facing extinction and then just when all seemed lost help arrived- this was a cheer worthy moment, the only one of the film.

Now my two major issues with the film. Nearly all of the interesting characters from the previous films were blatantly ignored or reduced in favourite of focusing on Rey and Kylo Ren, and whilst I can understand that both of them are popular characters it just feels like a huge missed opportunity, poor writing and a slap in the face. Moreover, the reveal of Rey taking the Skywalker name at the end of the film did not make me cheer, it did not elicit any kind of positive emotion in me rather it made me cringe… and that was how the film ended, on a cringe.

Overall, this film single handed dealt more damage to the Star Wars brand than anything else in it’s history, at least The Last Jedi had guts.

Pros.

The one cheer worthy moment

A few cool new characters

Cons.

Doing nothing with most of the characters

The cheapness and the cringe

The bad and poorly done fight scenes

The eye rolling moments

1/5

Reviewed by Luke

Bloody Hell: Don’t Try And Be A Hero, It Is Not Worth 8 Years

Bloody Hell is an action horror film directed by Alister Grierson. The plot sees Rex (Ben O’Toole), attempt to stop an armed robbery in his attempt an innocent women is killed, and he is sent to prison. When he is released from prison some view him as a hero others a monster, anyway his new found celebrity status proves too much for Rex, so he gets on a plane heading to Finland hoping to leave all his craziness behind: then he gets kidnapped by a family of cannibals.

I enjoyed this film more than I thought I would, and I have found over the days since I watched it, it has returned to my thoughts quite a few times. The greatest issue with this film is that the opening of the film, Rex getting to Finland is incredibly slow, however, once he gets captured things get much more interesting.

This film does a lot with a little, and even though only one or two locations are used, and the set pieces are not that elaborate or fancy, they still feel suitably tense and nerve-wracking. You are filled with dread hoping that Rex will be able to slip out of his restraints before the cannibals come to finish him off. Likewise in the final fight scene despite it being relatively small scale we are treated to a gore feast that is one of the best you way ever see.

My favourite thing about this film is its use of inner monologues, Rex talks to himself, no more than that he has full on conversations with another version of himself. I think both Rexs have great chemistry with the other and the banter between the two never leaves you wanting.

Overall, a strong B movie that makes the most out of what it has and has one of the best final brawls in recent memory.

Pros.

The ending fight

The final joke

Rex’s conversations with himself

The tension

Cons.

The opening is painfully slow.

3.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

Short Term 12: Give Brie Larson An Oscar!

Short Term 12 is a drama film directed by Destin Daniel Cretton. The film follows the life of Grace Howard (Brie Larson), a troubled adult who supervises at a home for troubled teens.

I have to say before I watched this film I was not on the Brie Larson bandwagon; I had yet to see that one performance by her that was going to convert me, I had seen her disastrous pr efforts and her meh turn as Captain Marvel in the MCU neither of which impressed me. I liked her in Free Fire, Scott Pilgrim and Kong Skull Island but I was still unconvinced. However, all that changed when I saw this film and now I am 100% on board the bandwagon.

There are a lot of great performances in this film, we get to see hints at future potential from Lakeith Stanfield and Kaitlyn Dever, as well as a great turn from John Gallagher Jr. in the male lead, but this is Larson’s film through and through. Larson sells every minute she is on screen with such an emotional intensity that you can’t help but be drawn in. I thought the struggle her character goes through, and the later reveals as to the motivation behind that, is incredibly moving and manically depressing. I think the conversation this character arc raises however is ultimately uplifting, positive and needed as it shows there is hope.

Overall, this is an incredibly emotionally impactful film and it is a model for how scripts should be written, close to perfect.

Pros.

Brie Larson

It has both humour and heart

The journey

The conversation around surviving abuse

The ending and the hope it brings

Cons.

It can be upsetting and deeply depressing at times

4.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

Psycho Goreman: Children Are Brats

Psycho Goreman is a science fiction horror film directed by Steven Kostanski. The plot sees two small children unwittingly reawaken an ancient evil. However, lucky for them they also find the gem that controls said ancient evil, which means they know have a world ending new toy.

I’m mixed on this one, for what it is worth before we get into it I don’t think you should watch the trailer before you see this film as it is misleading, and makes the film look like something it is not. Firstly, this is not a horror film it could be called a horror comedy but would be more likely fit under the science fiction comedy heading and there is no real horror in the film.

I enjoyed the campy pulpiness of this film and thought it definitely had a lot of B movie charm to it. I thought the humour also worked, at least to my tastes, as I often laughed at how off the wall and downright odd a lot of the jokes were.

The emotional plot beats and the bond between the kids is nice to see develop, they do put a lot into character work here and it does pay off as the final transformations feel earned and satisfying. The child acting was ok, they were annoying at time as child actors often are, but I have to say I have seen worse in other films.

My main issue with this film is the lack of action, I understand it is a comedy film more so than anything so we are not going to get these big intense battles, but a little more action would have been nice. We get these teases across the film of PG’s (Matthew Ninaber) past which elude to huge battles, but then cut away right before things get interesting which I found to be disappointing.

Overall if you are looking for a niche comedy you will enjoy this film if you are looking for horror or action look elsewhere.

Pros.

The B movie charm

The humour

The ending

Cons.

The child acting wasn’t good

The lack of action

2.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

White Tiger: America Is The Past

The White Tiger is a drama film directed by Ramin Bahrani, based on the novel of the same name written by Aravind Adiga. The plot tells the life story of Balram (Adarsh Gourav), as he goes from a lowly slum dweller to king of the business jungle.

On my shortlist for best films of 2021 this along with Shadow In The Clouds and Spree are up near the top. There is something wonderfully fresh about this film, that I just can’t put my finger on. I think my favourite part of the film is the fourth wall breaking dialogue, wherein the narrator asked us to not judge him harshly for the life he has led: throughout the film whilst doing this is he making wonderfully quippy but also insightful statements that stay with you after the film.

The narrative takes you on an emotional roller coaster as you go from cheering, to crying, to being infuriated and then back again. The film really understands how to play with the audiences’ emotions to make us really care about Balram and his struggle, this in turn makes the pay off at the end feel all the more deserved.

Moreover, and I don’t talk about this enough in these reviews, the soundtrack is absolutely first class. Not only does the score perfectly reflect the emotion and the sense of place on screen but it also gives a vibrancy and liveliness to the film that really helps to keep you engaged throughout.

Overall, one of the best films I have seen so far this year, don’t sleep on it.

Pros.

The soundtrack

The fourth wall breaking asides

The emotion

The performances

The ending feeling earnt

Cons.

None

5/5

Reviewed by Luke

The Voices: A Human Body Takes A Surprisingly Large Amount Of Tupperware Containers To Hold

The Voices is a black comedy horror film directed by Marjane Satrapi. The film follows the life of Jerry Hickfang (Ryan Reynolds), a mild-mannered office worker who is just trying to live his best life. However, Jerry hears voices particularly the voices of his cat and his dog and sometimes these voices lead him astray, such as when they encourage him to become a serial killer.

I have tried to watch this film before but watching it this most recent time I decided that I would stick it out until the end. Now, before I get into it I just want to say that I know comedy is subjective and black comedy even more so, however this film was just a bit too much for me in two regards.

Firstly, the cringe, there are multiple scenes in this film that are crawl up into a ball and die kind of cringe. Any scene when Jerry is trying to hit on women is particularly bad cringe to a point where it made my whole-body cringe, I think they over did it a little bit.

Secondly, this film is depressing, and you will leave it feeling bummed up. I understand that this is a dark comedy about a morbid subject but damn, this film is hard to get through. It made me laugh once or twice but for the most part it just made me feel sad. Particularly the ending.

The performances from Reynolds, Gemma Arterton and Anna Kendrick are all okay, I cant fault the acting though I will say no one blew me away with their performance.

Overall, this may just come down to comedic sensibilities for me this film was a bit too much, you might disagree with me and think it is hilarious: comedy especially dark comedy is very hard to judge.

Pros.

The premise is interesting

The acting is okay

Cons,

The cringe is too much

It is depressing

It feels familiar

2/5

Reviewed by Luke

Baby Done: Climbing Trees Whilst Pregnant

Baby Done is a New Zealand comedy drama film directed by Curtis Vowell. The plot follows the life of reluctant soon to be Mother Zoe (Rose Matafeo), as she has to deal with the fact that her life is changing beyond her control.

Taika Waititi’s (the executive producer) finger prints are all over this film. I mean no criticism by this, rather I am saying that Vowell has managed to recreate than sense of outsider charm that Waititi is know for. Watching this I was reminded of early Waititi ventures such as Eagles Vs Shark, both feel tonally very similar and that is a good thing.

I enjoyed this films atypical look at motherhood, and how not everyone is thrilled with and into the whole mum idea. I think this film speaks to what a lot of women might feel but not vocalise and it is nice to see this type of motherhood represented on screen as it provides a nice contrast to stereotypical Hollywood I wanted to be a mum all by life types.

The characters are wonderfully quirky and delightfully funny, this is a particularly true of Matafeo, but it also applies to Matthew Lewis and some of the supporting cast. Though this film might not be a laugh a minute, it does make you chuckle here and there, and you are smiling constantly throughout.

My favourite thing about this film is the way it handles Zoe’s emotions, it shows her confusion, fear and frankly anger towards being pregnant as well as the joy when the child is born, this provides a perfect emotional nuance to the film that helps to further its impact.

Overall, a film that manages to do both heart and comedy well.

Pros.

The nuanced take on motherhood

Straying from the standard

Matafeo

Lewis

The Waititi quirkiness

Cons.

A few slow moments

4.5/5

Reviewed by Luke