For Those Who Want Me Dead: Theron Would Have Been A Better Lead. AKA I’m Worried About The Eternals Now

For Those Who Wish Me Dead

3/5

Written by Luke Barnes

I am a big fan of Taylor Sheridan- he is one of the best screen writers of our age and is up there with Sorkin. As such when I heard of this film I was intrigued and wanted to watch it, and now that I have, though it is good, I found it to be disappointing. I found the film itself to be fairly breezy action fun, but the ending was slightly anti-climactic: especially the parts of the final fight involving Angelina Jolie’s main character.

For the most part Jolie’s character does very little beyond be there and run occasionally, a lot of the things happen around her and she has little involvement in actually progressing the narrative at all; besides killing the final bad guy at the end. Jolie who used to be an action hero is surprisingly passive here also, and honestly doesn’t seem like she is trying.

Aside from Jolie the rest of the cast come together nicely with Aiden Gillen almost certainly being the standout. The action for the most part is intense and well-choreographed, with some nice gore in the later stages.

Personally I think this film would have been better had the lead actually had something to do, beyond being sad about something in her past and vaguely bonding with a child.

Overall, good but still a slip for Sheridan.

Pros.

Gillen

The action

The vistas and the cinematography

Cons.

The passive lead

Jolie

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The Oak Room: You Will Believe, And Probably Guess What Happens In The Oak Room

The Oak Room

3/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Haven’t we been here before? Though I enjoyed this film’s gothic, small town appeal I think it could have done with some fresh ideas. How many times have we had the return to one’s place of birth to settle an old debt storyline? Come on now, move on.

The performances are mostly good across the board, there are a few moments where the actors slip up and you can see through their performances which takes you out of the film, but for the most part this isn’t a thing, and the performances are strong across the piece.

I think the best thing about this film is it’s sense of style, the horror of the small town is always nice to explore there is something personable and relatable in it and it speaks true regardless of period, story or characters. Moreover, there is a clear gothic inspiration here that also definitely helps boost the film from a stylistic perspective.

Overall, a stylistically interesting film, but one that suffers from being more of the same.

Pros.

The gothic influence

The horrors of the small town

The ending

Cons.

It is overly familiar

There are several moments when actors slip up and it breaks the immersion

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The Bad Batch: Replacements

Star Wars The Bad Batch: Replacements

2.5/5

Written by Luke Barnes

I think of the 3 episodes so far this was the weakest. There was an air of filler to it. The main clone band find themselves trapped on a desolate planet and only Omega can save them: which is beyond dumb as these are expert soldiers and they can’t repair the ship and go and fight the creature at the same time. Moreover, this young child without any combat experience can not only survive a run in with this beast but best it- yeah the story telling is really clutching at straws trying to explain this.

They advance the Crosshair storyline, and it is this part of the episode that scores the points in this review. Crosshair becomes even more irredeemably bad, clearly he will turn back to the good side later, but for now they are really exploring the depths of what you can get away with in what is basically a kids show.

Overall, though I find this series watchable, and it is nice to see new Star Wars content, it really has yet to find its stride and has entered a period of stagnation after the first episode.

Pros

Crosshair

The darker moments

Cons.

The filler main story

Everything with Omega

It still feels directionless

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Outcast: Nicolas Cage’s Weirdest Haircut Yet

Outcast

1.5/5

Written by Luke Barnes

So I put this on for two reasons, Nicolas Cage and Hayden Christensen. Cage is barely in this film after the opening 5 minutes appearing what feels like hours later, but is in fact less, to be present for the final fight- clearly a pay check role for him. Christensen fares better and has some good fight scenes that at least make his character some what memorable.

Liu Yifei is in this film- yes that is the woman with the terrible views on freedom and who stared in the recent Mulan live action film: she is okay but does not really have much to do here. What she and other characters do have to do however is spout weirdly clunky racist lines every now and again. Yes there are comments such as ‘white devils’ and ‘do white people actually bathe I’ve heard they don’t’, to paraphrase, thrown into this film, why? Who does this serve?

The only real pro I can give this film is that it has cool fight scenes, the fights themselves are well choreographed and look suitably impressive, however everything around and in-between them is dull, cliched and vaguely racist.

Overall, Cage and Christensen deserve better.

Pros.

The fight scenes are well done

Cons.

It is racist ‘

It is uninspired

It feels like a straight to DVD film in all the worst ways

The CGI in the first section is particularly terrible

The Woman In The Window: Close The Curtains

The Woman In The Window

2/5

Written by Luke Barnes

Netflix original films really can’t seem to catch a break. For the most part originals fall into the beige category and are quickly forgotten about, with even once in a while a film coming out that is either really good or really bad, but for the most part the film’s turn out average; this is the issue of having a machine/algorithm making your decisions for you.

This film is definitely more of the same generic content the service is littered with, it shares a lot of the issues that plague other Netflix originals and it sadly wastes what it could have been.

Amy Adams and Wyatt Russel are the shining stars of the piece, their performances are the ones that stayed with me, for the right reasons, and the ones that were convincing. Sadly a lot of the other big name performers here such as Julianne Moore and Gary Oldman are wasted in a big way, and just feel around for the sake of it; don’t even get me started on Anthony Mackie.

Whilst watching this film with my girlfriend we both had different interpretations of what was wrong with the film as a whole, she thought the film was deeply predictable and guessed the twist early on. I however, thought the opposite true and thought the film was so convoluted, trying ridiculously hard to prove its own intelligence, that it became illegible about halfway through.

The one thing we could agree on however, was that this film was depressing. Oh boy, get a happy film lined up for after this, or hug your pet, this film is the opposite of the sort of thing you want to be watching in lockdown, and will make you sad by the time it ends.

Overall, Netflix needs to realise that not all their films are deep, thoughtful looks into the human condition and that some of them are just pretentious.

Pros.

Adams

Russell

Cons.

It is depressing

It is convoluted

It wastes most of the cast.

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Invincible: Stop Watching The Walking Dead And Watch This Instead

Invincible

4.5/5

Written by Luke Barnes

This show is undeniably good, everyone you will hear talk about it agrees on that: some such as myself might go so far as to say it is the best piece of media ever adapted from a Robert Kirkman graphic novel, yes even better than the one about zombies that has been going on forever.

There is just something about this animated series that is hard to describe. Everything works and works well, the voice acting, the animation style, the slow build of the story it all comes together beautifully.

You don’t have to have read the comics to watch this either, personally I am familiar with the comics but had not red them prior to starting this show, and I fully understood everything that was happening on-screen. However there is a lot happening over the course of the first season so you will have to pay attention to make sure you get everything that is going on.

Moreover, I think the best thing about this show is what it does for adult animation, and the wider superhero genre. It proves two things, firstly that adult animated series can be done well, without relying on gross out humour, and secondly that non Marvel and DC comics properties can be just as popular as the heavy hitters; for those interested Invincible is an in Image comic series.

The only negative I could find with the season is that some of the plot lines feel a bit slow and drawn out for the sake of pacing which can make some episodes feel more interesting than others and that creates minor bits of drag throughout the season which hurts it ultimately.

Overall, one of the best new series of the year.

Pros.

The voice cast

The world and the characters

A new frontier for adult animation

The gore

Cons.

Slight bits of drag here and there.

The Bad Batch Episode 2: Cut And Run

3.5/5

Written by Luke Barnes

This episode is benefited from leaving the Crosshair stuff and focusing on something a little less predictable; I think it is fairly obvious Crosshair will be a baddy for a while and will then rid himself of the inhibitor chip it some way and probably save the Bad Batch- most likely in the series finale.

I enjoyed seeing this long lost clone deserter who has managed to have an entire life of his own outside of the various wars of the Republic, it makes me wonder if there are other clone deserters out there who we are yet to meet? I also thought seeing Omega interact with the other kids allowed me to warm to her that little bit more; though it is becoming evident that her voice work is more than a little jarring.

I found this episode to be more emotionally impactful, at least for me. I also again enjoyed the action set pieces and though they are rare when this show does give us some action it always gives us something worth seeing. My one growing concern for the show is it’s seeming lack of direction, where are our heroes going next, what is their purpose now; I suppose that is the theme of the show, but right now it feels like they are in-danger of having them go to different planets helping different people each week in very much a Supernatural monster of the week sort of way, which I wouldn’t like from a narrative perspective.

Overall, the show continues to have promise, though it is yet to blow me away.

Pros.

Omega interacting with the other kids

The clone deserter

The action

A few funny moments

Cons.

Directionless?

Omega’s VO work is distracting

Bloodthirsty: The Pretensions Beast

2.5/5

Written by Luke Barnes

So when I first saw this trailer I thought the werewolf elements were going to play a much bigger part then they actually end up doing. The idea of having a character who is turning into a werewolf not through the traditional bite or scratch, but instead for unknown reasons and playing the whole thing as though it could just be the character having a mental break, is genius and it sets up the film for greatness: sadly it can’t live up to it and it fails to tap into the potential of the premise.

Moreover, the characters never really inspire any deeper thought as it is clear what is going to happen and who everyone is in relation to the plot. Additionally I found this film had a real issue with wooden characters. Characters such as the girlfriend have no function beyond being the girlfriend, there is no nuance to the characters or thought for their arcs.

By the time we got the finale, which is undeniably cool, I started to question if it was too little too late, and I found the answer to be yes.

Overall, a cool idea badly executed.

Pros.

The premise

The transformation scenes

Cons.

The ending is too little too late

The first two acts of this film are a slog to get through

The characters are paper thin

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The Bad Batch Episode 1: Aftermath

3/5

Written by Luke Barnes

This episode and this series so far as a whole feels very much like a direct continuation of Clone Wars, which I appreciate as it helps to fill in the gap between that show and the later Rebels. This episode revolved around Order 66, and the clone response to that, which again I found fascinating and hope the show will dig even deeper into. I thought the decision to have the majority of the Bad Batch not be effected by this order, bar Crosshair was a little strange as surely either they would all have not been effected, or all been effected as they have very similar DNA; hopefully the show will clear this up.

I thought the appearance of Kanan Jarrus and Saw Gerrera was again a nice way to tie the series in with what had come before, in terms of production. Though it did also feel a little ‘remember this character, remember that character’, with these returning characters acting as somewhat of a story crutch: the same can be said of Omega- but I’ll get to that.

As a character I am torn on Omega, on the one hand I think the idea of a female clone of Jango Fett, who also has powers, has a lot of potential. On the other hand I think they are clearly trying to recapture what they had with Baby Yoda and that parent-child bond which again feels like repeating things from the near past.

I thought the action and the animation as a whole were both very well done, with a clear progression between the 3 shows being clear to see.

I am looking forward to the next episode.

Overall, a solid start that is perhaps a bit too reliant on the past.

Pros.

The animation

The action

The Bad Batch themselves

Cons.

Omega

Bringing back so many old faces

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Star Wars Rogue One: The Front Lines Of The Star War

Star Wars Rogue One

4/5

Written by Luke Barnes

By far one of the best films to take place during the Disney Star Wars period so far, this film not only has a personality and feel all its own, but crucially it also manages to exist without heavy involvement from the Skywalkers or other, big named characters: thereby proving that Star Wars as a franchise can move forward with new characters and does not need to stick to the same few characters.

I enjoyed the darker tone of the film, with it feeling more like a war film than a Star Wars film: I definitely think that the tone is the best bit of the film and it could only have been made better if it was taken further and made even darker.

I thought the core group of characters were all strong and had believable motivations. I thought Jyn’s, Felicity Jones, arc surrounding her father and the original Deathstar was inspired: by using this the story becomes important and rooted in cannon whilst also feeling fresh and like something we haven’t seen before. I also thought the emotional stakes of the arc were done well and Jones and Mads Mikkelsen, who plays Jyn’s father both have strong commanding performances.

Finally, I liked that they had the guts to end it the way they did with the characters dying, yes it was bleak, but it showed that the film and the creatives weren’t afraid to take risks and that is the attitude Star Wars needs to have going forward.

Overall, a dark, gritty and effecting Star Wars film. More like this please.

Pros.

The tone

The father-daughter arc

New characters

The ending

Cons.

A few pacing complaints and some needless humour